Thursday, October 28, 2010

The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The next best time is now. ~Chinese Proverb

I bought my dad a pair of crimson maple trees for Father’s Day back when I was in college. He built a new pole barn in the interim and moved one of the trees to accommodate. The tree never really recovered and finally gave up the ghost this past year. My dad wanted to replace it but the survivor of the pair is now quite good sized. What to do? Solution-get the biggest tree we could find. My dad who is in his 80’s said “you know I only have so long to watch trees grow” – don’t we all? We paid some neighbor kids to help us and we also planted a sycamore at the same time. In addition to replacing that dead tree we are taking an inventory and trying to plant a range of trees that aren’t currently growing there. I am sure there will be a follow up to this post with different trees next spring. I hope some day Caelun and Abbi look at these pictures and say “Gosh I am glad my parents and grandparents planted those trees 20 years ago” and then I hope they plant some more.

Picking up the trees with our truck.

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Meagen and Levi work on freeing the root ball.

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Everybody get ready to PULL- Caelun is cheering from inside the truck.

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Meanwhile Kyle and Bryar help with clean up on the side of the garage.

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And it landed!

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This is the one he wanted to match.

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Tree 2 the sycamore.

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Again we have it in the ground. Lets hope they grow and outlive us all.

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7 comments:

Kifus said...

Ohh I haven't visited your blog in ages! I'm sure Caelun and Abbi (hey, wait! Abbi? Did you have a baby and I've just learned about it?? I'm confused!) Anyway, I'm sure they are already enjoying those handsome trees.

Hope your weekend was lovely, Pam!

Clint said...

Abbi is my 14 year old step daughter but I claim her as mine - although she might not like it much if I called her a baby ;-)

Anonymous said...

We recently moved into our new home on 2 acres. We promptly planted what we hoped would be a beautiful red oak. Even after regular/daily watering it looks like the tree is not going to make it.

Amy said...

We always convince ourselves that life will be better after we get married, have a baby, than another. Then we are frustrated that the kids are not old enough and well be more content when they are. After that were frustrated that we have teenagers to deal with. We will certainly be happy when they are out of that stage. We always tell ourselves that our life will be complete when our spouse gets his or her act together. When we get a nice a car, and are able to go on a nice vocation when we retire. The truth is, there's no better time than right now. if not now, when? Our life will always be filled with challenges. It's best to admit this to ourselves and decide to be happy anyway.

Clint said...

Amy- I agree! We only get one shot at this ride so we better enjoy every single minute. :-)

Clint said...

Jeanne- I am sorry your tree didn't grow. It is hard sometimes. It is a reminder we don't always get to call the shots :-)

Kifus said...

Ohh dear, yes, don't tell her I thought she was a baby!

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