Today I finished something that I started on Tu B'Shevat.
In the Jewish calendar, that is a propitious time to plant a tree.
On that actual DAY I did go buy the tree, but it was bitter cold outside. I DID turn over a shovelful of dirt at the spot I intended to plant it, and ran back inside and threw more wood on the fire.
But today, at long last, the sun came out. There are no clouds in the sky. No wind is blowing. I made a run for it and gathered up my tools.
Digging a hole anywhere on this property is a grueling business. There are rocks everywhere.
I know it doesn't look like much of a hole, but it took me a long time to dig it....
Please note the obscene number of rocks that were packed into that small space.
The good news is that it was so mild out, after a while I needed to take my coat off. I haven't been outside without a coat for months!
I don't know for SURE if the deer would even bother my little maple tree, but I decided not to find out. I put up three sets of my favorite fencing in the whole world. I buy them at Lowe's and I don't EVEN know how I would survive around here without them.
This morning when I was putting on my socks, I noticed they had holes in the bottoms. I thought, well, one more day and these are going in the garbage. Turns out they had one more purpose in them. I needed to encourage the crooked little maple into a more upright position, so I whipped off my holey socks and voila'.... problem solved.
It's hard to get good pictures of little trees with no leaves, surrounded by other trees with no leaves in the middle of the winter, but we did the best we could under the circumstances.
It took me 2 1/2 hours to plant that tree.
What's funny is, when I walked out the back door this morning my thought was... well, I'll just work on that hole for a while, and when I get tired of digging, I'll stop and finish it another day.
I forgot to take my tenacious nature into consideration. At a certain point, the conquering of those stubborn rocks became personal. I am stubborn too.
I won.
So did the little maple tree.
May it grow tall and straight, and take our breath away with its beauty in the fall.
Please note the obscene number of rocks that were packed into that small space.
The good news is that it was so mild out, after a while I needed to take my coat off. I haven't been outside without a coat for months!
I don't know for SURE if the deer would even bother my little maple tree, but I decided not to find out. I put up three sets of my favorite fencing in the whole world. I buy them at Lowe's and I don't EVEN know how I would survive around here without them.
This morning when I was putting on my socks, I noticed they had holes in the bottoms. I thought, well, one more day and these are going in the garbage. Turns out they had one more purpose in them. I needed to encourage the crooked little maple into a more upright position, so I whipped off my holey socks and voila'.... problem solved.
It's hard to get good pictures of little trees with no leaves, surrounded by other trees with no leaves in the middle of the winter, but we did the best we could under the circumstances.
It took me 2 1/2 hours to plant that tree.
What's funny is, when I walked out the back door this morning my thought was... well, I'll just work on that hole for a while, and when I get tired of digging, I'll stop and finish it another day.
I forgot to take my tenacious nature into consideration. At a certain point, the conquering of those stubborn rocks became personal. I am stubborn too.
I won.
So did the little maple tree.
May it grow tall and straight, and take our breath away with its beauty in the fall.