Sticking a Willow in some Dirt

The Nelsons are the proud new owners of two "corkscrew willow" trees. They are like regular willow trees except they...are twisty. Based on the this-is-what-they-look-like-full-grown pictures, they kind of look like willow trees that had a sleepover and got their hair crimped on a dare and got fun of the next Monday at school but carried themselves with confidence and just the right amount of self-deprecation and ultimately advanced socially as a result. Ultimately, these trees will help screen our yard from the road.

Bear and I dug a hole and Willow helped fill it in. I find this picture particularly illustrative of the beautiful, bitter, circle of life -that existential wheel we all turn.

There is so much rabbit crap mixed into that tree's new dirt that it will probably grow buck teeth. Seriously, a lot of rabbit crap -which I am told is about the best thing there is to feed a tree. Rabbit crap. Next best is liquified rabbit (rendered down to a pulpy mass), but is that really worth it? Plus, there is the opportunity cost to consider. If you don't liquify the rabbit, then it can make like a ton of crap over its lifetime. But then you would have to factor in the cost of feed. I don't know. We had the rabbit crap, and didn't have any liquified rabbit -so the decision to go with the rabbit crap was that much easier. Plus I think we can all sleep a little better at night that way, too.

Willow's favorite part was the watering. Eventually negotiations with the hose broke down to the point where I was chasing both kids around and blasting them. At one point Bear said, "I never want to stop planting trees." -Which made me think of John Denver. And then I was humming that public service commercial from the 80's the rest of the evening...

plant a tree for your tomorrow
it's your tree that cleans the air
plant a tree
trees for America
plant a tree today for all the world to share

Thank you John Denver. We will never forget you.