This picture was taken when I was about 7 or 8. I don't remember the exact moment, but I'm pretty sure I had to get a boost from my dad in order to climb up there. The lowest branches were probably 5 feet over my head. Buster, our first schnauzer, used to love eating the seed pods from this tree. Annie Rooney preferred the sweetgum balls. Both the red magnolia seeds and the sweetgum balls made excellent additions to the mud pies that I sold in my kitchen (which was actually the short flight of steps off the west deck). Once, I decorated with bird seed and all my pies sprouted.
Thinking of the backyard and the trees and all reminds me of another funny 626 story. One Thanksgiving (or shortly thereafter) we had some of that dried Indian corn hanging on the front door. My dad thought he'd throw it on the neighbor's roof for the squirrels. Well, because of the mild winters down on the Coast combined with the amount of leaves and pinestraw and, for lack of a better word, crap piled on Judy B's (aka Soggy Eggo) carport roof, that corn sprouted and eventually there was a 4-foot-tall corn plant up there for a long time. I wish I knew where to look for a picture of that. Did Judy B. ever realize it? I could do a whole blog on my dad, easy. In a completely non-tree-related tale, I vividly recall the time ol' Paps tried to shoot a cockroach with an air rifle--INSIDE THE HOUSE. The BB bounced around the kitchen for nearly 15 minutes.
Well, hope this short post has entertained you for the 30 seconds or so it took you to read it. Happy Tuesday. In the words of Big Daddy, "boogie til you puke."
P.S. I added a close-up of the sign that the contractor put on the lot. It's kind of pixelated, but you can see it's like a seaside design... I think.
No comments:
Post a Comment