City services have improved since the days of the Dutch Elm disease. All of the replacement trees for the beetle infestation are doing well, planted at the proper depth.
I was surprised at the replacement protocol. The city provided a list (with full descriptions) of trees, shrubs, and ground cover you could choose from, and it was quite varied. You could pick more than one, depending on the size and number of trees that were removed.
We lost two maple trees, and because of their size we were entitled to five replacements. The yard wasn't big enough to support that many trees and more shrubs or groundcover would have been too labor intensive for dear old Mom. I looked at the list, seeking the tallest (at maturity) tree available and found the English Oak, which should be eighty feet tall in another fifty years or so.
It looked puny when planted, less than 12 feet tall maybe, but I took good care of it in the early years with plenty of water and fertilizer tree spikes. It grew like crazy and started producing acorns after a couple of years, with a perfectly triangular canopy. The local squirrels must have been pleased.
The property was sold six years ago, so I lost track of it's progress although I do see it once in a while when I use the alley as a shortcut to the hardware store. The new owner must not be watering it sufficiently, as some leaves were yellowing.last summer. This year it's doing fine, nearly reaching the roof line of the 3-flat.
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Is mouthing off the same as wise-cracking? Some of us use to crack wise all the time, but only with the new teachers, fresh out of college. They always took it in good humor, responding with an eye roll or a snappy comeback. Anything for a laugh, in those days. It stopped being fun when the teachers became wittier than us class clowns and we just looked stupid. Not in the curriculum, but it taught us high schoolers something.
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Responsibility is in very short supply in this election cycle, and both major candidates are too old to change, I think. Their core behavior is fixed and I don't anticipate any "come to Jesus" moments from either one.
I like snakes, but not when they walk on two legs.
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