Trees

Scott and I went hiking twice this weekend. It was so beautiful we just couldn't resist. Plus we took Ashton with us and he enjoyed it so much the first time we thought he might like to do it again. He had a great time traipsing through streams and bounding around in the woods. The undergrowth hasn't started growing in full force yet so it wasn't too hard for him to get around and I wasn't too concerned about ticks or anything - unfortunately my lack of concern has not lasted... I found one on me this evening. No clue where it came from though, so who knows if it was ever on Ashton or not. It was crawling and hadn't attached itself so I think it's ok, I'm just a little leery as to if we're going to find any more or not. Oh well - guess it's the price you pay for being in the great outdoors. It sure has been a couple of beautiful days though!

One of the most impressive things we came across was on a trail we hiked on with our friends last August. There was a tree that grew out over the water so you could sit on it. The water was far enough below the tree that we couldn't dangle our feet in even if we stretched to try. Scott and I had our picture taken on it and I posted it last August. I'll post it again for reference here. We walked the same trail yesterday and came upon the tree. Water was rushing over the place where we had sat last August. The difference in the water level was amazing. I know the water level in rivers rise and fall but haven't really witnessed it so dramatically personally.

Maybe I haven't mentioned this, but we planted some trees in back of our house last fall/winter in the hopes of someday restoring the tree line that was destroyed by some new construction going on in our backyard. Our new trees didn't die through the winter thankfully. Now we just have to see if they'll grow as fast as we were told they will. Three feet per year. Not that we'll be able to benefit much from them while we live here but maybe it will help potential buyers when we're ready to sell in a year or two. Here are some more before and after pictures. One of our place with the original trees in about May of last year so not even at it's peak of growth, the other is of the new 'lovely' view we now have. Ah the signs of progress. It's not the same exact angle of course, but you can see the edge of the flower box at the bottom of the first picture so it's not too far off. The lovely 'tree' that we have left in the second picture is branch less - never has had any leaves on it or anything even when our backyard was more lush. It's one of the trees they decided to leave up. Do I sound a bit cynical? Sorry... I am.

Then a picture of one of our new trees. It's the little tiny green thing in the middle of the mulch next to the stake. Doesn't look like much now but we're hoping for the best. We bought them small because we wanted to fill in quite a large area, and the smaller, the cheaper. Plus we weren't sure how many would survive. Grow little trees, grow!