Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Decisions


"Don't be too timid and  squeamish about your actions. All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better." Ralph Waldo Emerson


Today is Earth day. I can't quite believe I am about to say this but I am preparing to have a tree removed from my yard.  Me, tree hugger, tree lover, Earth lover, and I celebrated the very first Earth day by walking the 5 miles home from high school instead of taking the bus. I respect the Earth and treasure it in any way that I can every day, not just Earth day.  So the decision to take down the tree was not an easy one.

You see it is a black walnut tree.  It is growing on the fence row between my property and the neighbors.  It makes a mess in both yards.  I adore black walnuts, especially in ice cream, but this tree is making me crazy.  It is also close the house and is getting bigger every year.  When I first moved in, 10 years ago, it was too immature to produce nuts.  I should have had the foresight to take it down then.  But, I just hate to take down trees.  The older  I get, the more nervous I get about this tree. Black walnut trees belong in the woods, not in the city along the fence row. I don't know how the tree even got there.  Did a squirrel plant it?  So I made the decision to get rid of  it.  I hate making decisions.  I am not sure it is the right one.  But, according to Emerson, I need to be less timid and squeamish about my actions.  

I think I would like to plant a white pine in place of the black walnut. Wouldn't that be lovely?


Oh and just so no one thinks I am totally terrible,  I have a huge maple tree, some other young tree, a mullberry tree and a pine tree in the back yard among the lilac and forsythia bushes.  And in the front yard I have planted a Shiloh maple, two red bud trees and an apple tree.  Plus my other neighbors have a huge maple that just borders my driveway.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I thought black walnut trees were worth money. Am I wrong?

A New Me said...

Well it isn't that large a tree. And I don't think about life in terms of money, or what something is worth. I was just worried about this thing dropping a branch on the neighbors house.

Anonymous said...

Sounds like you made the right choice. Good going!