Our 35-year-old house was built on a forested half-acre lot on Walden’s Ridge.
Some trees were cleared to make room for the house, of course, and several others have dropped due to natural causes. Still, there are 36 good-size trees still standing in our yard, mostly oaks and tulip poplars.
Of the 36 trees in our yard, 23 are in the backyard. This was an adventure when our older son used to practice hitting baseballs back there. It was like a Plinko game. A well-struck line drive would sometimes ricochet three or four times before it hit the ground. Meanwhile, it was best to duck and cover your head with your gloved hand until the ball stopped.
I was thinking of this last week after I got an oversize envelope in the mail from the Arbor Day Foundation. It was marked Tennessee Tree Survey. I imagined it was some kind of tress census, so I grabbed a pen.
Interestingly, I have noticed over time that the Arbor Day Foundation has the most tenacious mailing lists on Earth. I can count on getting their snail-mail newsletter at the office through thick and thin, decades after other nonprofits switched to email.