First Day of Spring

"March roars in like a lion and out like a lamb."  It's been a nice month so far, lots of temperate days and springlike weather.  Nary a bit of roaring.  Not many blustery days.  Not a lot of spring storms.  Hardly a lion of a month.  But all of that changed today.  The first day of Spring.

Last night a cold rain started and this morning, ice pellets are stacking up on the high part of my yard (like the stumps from the trees killed in the last ice storm).  Now, as I look out the window, there are actually some flakes fluttering around amidst the ice.

I finally got tired of my crazy growing trees.  After all the limb removal from the ice storm two years ago, the trees are growing back out like a bad weave.  So I called an arborist and scheduled a tree trimming.  During the estimate, we stood in my backyard staring up at the grand trees.  Okay, we stared at the ones that are left.  We discussed where we could lop off branches to allow the tree to grow more upright, the improve the umbrella.  I'm all about the shade, folks, all about the shade.

I think I got it from my mother, she could not take a tree down.  No matter how damaged or diseased, she wanted all the trees to stay.  She was raised in the flat lands of New Mexico and she treated every tree like a gift.  I'm much more pragmatic.  If it looks good and gives shade, it stays.  If it get sick, or drops limbs on my head, it goes.  The tree guys impressed upon me the necessity of waiting until the trees recovered from the ice damage before doing any shaping.  It's been two years, so I can get them fixed now.

When the tree guy agreed to do the trimming, he put it off until later in the week.  He said there was rain ans snow scheduled for this weekend.  I guess I'll have to wait until mid-week to get my trees shaped.  Unless this ice takes down more limbs.  Then I guess the two year clock starts again.  When does that lamb part begin anyway??

--Sandee Wagner