We have one lonely tree on our entire two acres of land. Well, technically there is a half tree decorative thing out front, but there is only one real tree. It is in the far, far back corner of the land, beyond the swamp pit and nestled amidst some grass that seems fairly normal from the house but turns out to be taller than Olivia.
Since moving to our new house, I have discovered a surprising fact--for Barney, our yard was the number one reason for our move out of the big city and into the small town. I honestly thought that we came here for the schools and that anything else was just a bonus, but apparently that was not the case for him. So, since we have gotten here, the yard has been a big deal to him. He has actively wanted to mow and jumped at the opportunity when my dad offered to come mow the other day with Barney's assistance. He loves to go to hardware stores and look at trees, grass seed, grass seed dispersing gear, lawn mowers, and etc. This has all been somewhat of a surprise to me because in our old house he had zero interest in lawn maintenance and would actively complain when I insisted on anything other than the bare minimum of weeding.
So, back to the tree. Our one lonely tree had obviously either been long neglected by human care or never had been trimmed by a human, so it resembled nothing as much as a really overgrown and scraggly bush. Barney has been itching for days to go out and trim the tree, but first he could not find our tree trimmers, and then it turned out the grass was too tall and he was too short to reach the branches, and then I needed him on projects inside. I can unpack all day, but much of the hanging and arranging of things require assistance because of my pregnant state of being.
This morning though he patiently hung two curtains, a towel rod, two towel hooks, and a picture for me before slipping out of the house with my mother's ladder and his newly purchased tree trimmer and then spent a good two hours working on the tree. After a neighbor warned of possible snakes in that high grass, the kids stayed inside with me while we periodically watched the progress outside. He was meticulous and dedicated, and after two hours, it no longer looks like an eyesore but is a pretty tree instead. He was so proud of his work (and rightly so), and I was so glad that he did that instead of the variety of house projects that I had had in mind for this morning. The satisfaction that he takes in a good looking yard is hard to beat, and it really did do a lot to make the back yard look at least a little better (it's going to be a while before we really see anything like its true potential though).
Trimming the tree meant that we had a much, much later start to our trip to see my sister-in-law who had knee surgery today, which also meant that I did not get to eat at my favorite restaurant and had to eat at a very poor substitute instead. I knew that our late departure time definitely meant that my chances of getting to eat at my favorite place were going to be drastically reduced. And, I was quite disappointed, but as we got home tonight and seeing again the happiness that making that tree look good brought to Barney made the sacrifice seem in hindsight like a no-brainer.
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