Pluggers by Rick McKee for October 07, 2018

Eighteenth-century George Washington helping 21st-century someone plan their retirement… that’s a laugh.

I could have but someone else gets that privilege, if they wish. From what I can see from the street that little tree I planted did exactly what I planned it would. If nothing else worked out the way I planned it, that did.

The ox is slow but the earth is patient……….learn how to have time well spent :-)

Last year during Hurricane Irma, a neighbor’s tree was knocked down (over the lawn so no damage to any homes. About a month later when the tree company was ready to get rod of all the stumps (other trees in the neighbor fell), this stump suddenly sprout a small shoot. Now 1 year later it is actually a small tree. He said the tree had been about 5 years old. Nature can be surprising!

Why yes President Washington liked to help those of us that served with him in the War.

I’ve planted trees in seven states, the ones I planted here are fruit trees and will never be allowed to get that big.

So Gramps never moved out of his parents house? He must have been a Millennial before Millennials had a name.

One of the problems with staying in a house too long is that you end up owning a home. I planted a hardware store end of season sale black oak in the back yard 25+ years ago. It is now a beautiful tree, taller than the house. It shades the roof in the morning until the maple takes over in the afternoon. The bird bath is in its shade and the bird feeder hangs from one of its lower branches, near a back window. I have buried beloved pets that have passed near its root ball and the leaves are fuller and darker the next year. I had never heard of oak itch mites, but they weren’t so bad this year.

I would count it a good legacy to have planted a tree that children sit under.

Here in San Diego our major park has a fig tree (The Moreton Bay Fig) that takes up the better part of an acre. I spent an afternoon recently watching it. The is an entire community of life that is involved with that tree. A good legacy indeed.

Speakin’ of large trees…………https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uO7mKsNeaOI

When is the best time to plant a tree? Twenty years ago.

George Washington? That man’s a youngster! My youngest asked me – for the zillionth time – how old I was. “Well, I was born in 1942. How old does that make me?”

“Nineteen forty two?!” Well, I’m old. but it’s not that bad.

And then she leaned across to her sister and whispered. “What year did Columbus discover America?”

“And everyone shall sit under his own vine and his own fig tree…”