Looking Ahead
A front blew through, the air chilled, and all my trees have leafed out. It’s canopy time for my yard. That’s nice. My little trees are juveniles. The chinquapin, the laceys, the burr, and the crape myrtles. They’re standing alone, pulling their moisture from lord knows where and going about their tree business. It’s a far cry from the days of stakes, and wires, and fretting. I still give them a drink now and again, particularly in the dog days of summer, but that’s the exception rather than the rule.
It’s funny, but the subject of trees came up when I paid my property tax the other day. Apparently, people had been complaining to the clerk about having to pay school taxes when they didn’t have any children. I told the clerk I pay the school taxes for the same reason I plant trees. I’m never going to see the trees reach maturity, but it’s fun watching them grow up and I can imagine what they might look like when they do after I got them started. Seems like a nice legacy. Educating kids seems like the same kind of good deal, except I’ll get to see some of them grow up, and maybe I’ll vote for one or two of them.
But that’s enough of that. I might mow today. The grass outside the fence is getting long, and the city has left the mowing to me. That’s okay. They’re busy elsewhere and it’s really no problem. Besides, I like mowing, trundling around on my big zero turn with it’s sharp new blades. The work is noisy, but I have ear protection. We’re all good. I’ve got an errand to run this morning. So, the work will wait until this afternoon. And that’s fine. Because a front blew through, and the air is chill.
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