Trees

Today I absentmindedly drove around a tree on the way to town. No big deal. Barely noticed it. As I drove around it on the way back home I started thinking; maybe this isn't so normal in most people's everyday lives.

Trees fall down around here all the time. Aspen trees don't have a long life. They grow fast, get rot, and fall over. I remember hearing that they are the start to a forest. They grow, and create a shelter for the evergreens to grow in, then go away. Whether I'm right or wrong about that, I've definitely seen the aspen groves move across the hills in the 12 years I've lived here. It makes me feels so old, that I have watched groups of trees move. But, that's just life.

And part of life around here is driving around trees that fall down. If I was organized I'd drive around with a chainsaw in my car, but that seems inconvenient. I can usually drive around most trees that fall. Sometimes I have to get out and move them. It's fun to move an entire tree, except when you're dressed nice and trying not to get dirty.

But sometimes I can't move them. Then what? I pick a spot that looks un-pokey(yes, i'm sure that's not a word) and drive over it. The kids find it very exciting. I hope all the way home that I didn't poke a hole in my tire.

A few weeks ago we had a huge, freak windstorm. Lots of trees blew down. On my way home I dodged trees left and right. I got out and moved trees. And yes, there was a mongo big tree that I could not move, so I drove over it. This is normal, I mean, people, you would do the same thing. The crazy thing is that I had to drive back and forth, around the tress and over the mongo tree, for more than a week. No one moved them. Heck, I moved them the best I could and they stayed where I put them. What am I supposed to do, be lumberjack woman on my way to work at the library? Our road seems to be the last priority in the county, which I understand since hardly anyone uses it. But still, I was just thinkin', it's kind of weird.