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.