Back in the olden days when I was a children, (I used the word children purposely to get your attention, so get off my case) climbing trees was a part of normal activities for boys. Kids didn’t have smart phones with apps so the parent could track their activities. We did however have neighbors that would tell on you if you were someplace you shouldn’t be, or if you were misbehaving. Yes I may be older than dirt, and in the olden days when I was a kid there were real dinosaurs still roaming the earth.
Putting all that BS aside, we have a photo of a little angel sitting on a cement block which I had placed in the tree for his comfort. “Why a cement block”, you ask. I will be happy to provide you with that answer. It was easy to install, it is heavy and will not break or move easily. You may have noticed the ax in the photo, I did chop a couple notches for the block to sit on in an effort to keep it stable.
You can tell that Alex is the perfect boy, by looking at that fake smile (the same smile that his dad used when he was a kid). This angel has nothing but nice thoughts and would never get into any trouble.
We see Granny telling the boy, be careful and don’t fall. Dave seems to be preoccupied with something on his shoulder.
When, “the Gabi” got home from school she climbed into the tree also. There wasn’t much room and both wanted the other to get down so they could have it to them self. I am sure you noticed the smiles are gone.
For the observant among you, there is now a ladder inserted against the tree for easier access. No, I did not get up on the block in the tree, while the kids were here.
Different subject:
For those of us who are on a fixed income, never knowing from week to week what we will find in the way of “road kill”, there was another nice effect to the recent rains. As I sat in my so called office area, with the door open allowing the cool air to enter the house in an effort to reduce the air conditioning bill, I was aware of popping sounds when vehicles were driving up the street.
Being somewhat inquisitive (A K A nosey) I wanted to learn what was the cause of the popping sound. I decided to remove my posterior from my chair, and walk to the end of the drive way where the trash container was located. The trash truck had previously ran so it was empty and needed to be brought back to the house.
Arriving at the end of the drive I observed several crushed pecans in the street. The vehicles were crushing the pecans as they drove up the street and that was the popping noise. These crushed pecans are an eye sore, and littering the street. Something needed to be done. Being a good neighbor, I did not call the city code enforcer. I decided to help correct this myself.
The rain had washed some of the pecans from the neighbors tree, down the street, I decided to pick those up that were in front of my house. I had more than a hand full as I pulled the trash container back to the house.
I developed a plan, I would get my pecan picker-upper and pick up the pecans before they are all crushed on the street. Obviously I did not want any more to be crushed as they were ugly and littered the street.
Everyone knows I want to keep litter off the streets and I was doing the community a favor by picking these pecans up before they were all crushed. After all, if the neighbor wanted to keep the pecans, he would have picked them up himself.
This was the first time I had used the pecan picker-upper to actually pick up pecans. I have used it often to remove acorns from the yard but never pecans.
It worked as advertised. I picked up every uncrushed pecan I could find from in front of the neighbor’s house, and I did not need to bend over one time.
After emptying the picker, I had another thought. Since the rain had washed pecans down the street in front of my house, how many could I find if I walked all the way to the cul-de-sac?
Down the street I went, and yes I found pecans scattered not along the curb, but out in the street. Evidently the rain water flooded almost all the way across the street depositing pecans near the center of the street.
I found, “the mother lode” at the end of the street. This was better than picking up aluminum cans from the park trash containers after a big party.
These lovely free pecans were all wet from the rain so I place them outside in the open so the wind and sun could dry them.
The good lord provides for those of us on a fixed income.
I hope your mother lode is fantastic.
Don Ford
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