I can always tell when Tony is reaching his peak frustration with our two big trees each year because he starts wandering around the house muttering things like, "I don't know why you liberals (evidently referring to me) think we need more of these things."
Now on the one hand, our trees are fairly obnoxious. In late spring, they not only sprout leaves but also some sort of yellow fuzzy pollen junk, which drops for weeks. (Think two weeks or more of sweeping the front and back porch, the long driveway, and the front walk -- not to mention extra vacuuming and sweeping of the house and cars.)
Then all the sticks that held the yellow fuzzies drop. (Think three or more weeks of raking the yard in late June/early July.)
Then comes fall, with piles and piles of the actual leaves dropping to the ground. (Think a good month of raking and stuffing leaves into orange bags the city gives us, which are never enough to contain all the leaves.)
On the other hand, though, if I'm Tony's model for environmental anything, it's a sad, sad world. My total contribution to the planet includes: (1) participating in the curbside recycling program our city has, (2) turning off the lights in the rooms Tony has left, (3) turning off the lights in rooms I think Tony has left but he really hasn't, (4) encouraging Tony to plant a garden, and (5) feeling guilty when I drive my car. I briefly flirted with buying organic milk and then got tired of paying three times as much per gallon for it....
This wasn't even a fraction of what got hacked....
(Afton was rather fascinated by the pirate-looking man who kept zooming up and down in his bucket with a loud chainsaw. He eventually zoomed down to the window and waved hello at her.)
But this year, in the Tony vs. Trees battle, Tony made some progress. Before the yellow fuzzies had even formed, he called a tree guy to come trim the trees. I believe his instructions to the guy included phrases like, "I'd prefer more taken rather than less."
This wasn't even a fraction of what got hacked....
(Afton was rather fascinated by the pirate-looking man who kept zooming up and down in his bucket with a loud chainsaw. He eventually zoomed down to the window and waved hello at her.)I would like to take this opportunity to make it clear that, despite all his muttering, it was Tony who brought home Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth" for us to watch a couple years ago, and it was Tony who went on-line after the movie to check out his carbon footprint, and it was Tony who then decided we should buy some fluorescent light bulbs. (I was all for it -- our electricity bill dropped noticeably after that.) So, somewhere, deep down, his heart bleeds just a little too.
6 comments:
I fear that while I may have won one battle, I will still lose the war.
I must say I love the look of trees, but I get really annoyed at big trees in my yard as well--especially after I had to pay over $7000 to repair tree root damage to my sewer pipes a few years ago.
Glad I'm not the only one who hates the trees on my own property. I now have a 3-year plan to chop down ALL of my messy, green powder-dropping trees. I just had my first one chopped down a couple of weeks ago. I feel great about it. The bad guy is the ding-dong who planted the trees in the first place 30 years ago.
I am a big tree lover, but I can tell you those trees seem awful and should be terminated. :) Good luck I am glad that I don't have to deal with those trees
I just wished my trees could make it through the winter and through the wind. Many trees planted...few have lived.
I think liberals are ruing the world, too, Tony. :) Fight on. I love trees in theory, but I always seem to have the kind that drop prickle balls down or stick on prevent us from being able to grow a garden.
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