I finally got around to trimming back the deadwood of the once vibrant Barbados Cherry. Turns out, it’s cherries, as in multiple plants. Offspring have either rooted or grown from seed all around the original plant. In fact, it probably calls for an enlargement of the bed, which is how we celebrate plants who take hold and claim ground and fall into that category of welcome visitor. Side benefit? Less ground to mow. Eventually, we’ll probably have all the ground beneath the trees growing things that like to grow beneath trees. Understory plants of all sorts, including little trees.

The downside, I suppose, is that it could tend to make the ground around the house look less than tidy, but I’m unsure how that became a prerequisite for having a house. Except, I guess it might serve as an advertisement as to the general unkemptness of the owner, as in, if this guy can’t keep his yard tidy and mowed, how often do you reckon he showers. That sort of thing. I guess the way around it is to have beds and paths. Of course, this is probably a future generational problem. So, I think I’ll just let it go. Besides, I mowed yesterday, too, and everything looks suburban.

I hope it rains today. The skies look promising and the ground looks dry. I was disappointed to discover upon my return on Saturday that little rain had graced our land on Friday when it seemed most of Texas got rain. If I still had a rain gauge, I’d know exactly what happened. But it broke and I never replaced it. I believe I will remedy that today. I miss the ability to have a quick sense check as to the amount of water that fell from the sky on a given day. Besides, it seems an essential element of old manhood. Measuring your rainfall. There’s some excitement for you.

John W. Wilson is the author of The Long Goodbye: A Caregiver’s Tale