Sitting in the Shade of our Trees

Our little aspen tree grove. The single big tree melted my heart when we first saw this house. I grew up with aspen trees in my yard. I love their small dainty leaves, with white backs, that glisten when they flutter in the wind. (So much, we even named a daughter Aspen Spring.) If it were up to me, I'd let all the starts grow every summer in the lawn. They grow like weeds. Troy keeps me in check, reminding me that they will get big one day, and it would be nice to still be able to mow between them. So we've just let a few extras grow, and do they grow FAST. (The shorter ones that are still mainly trunks without big branches yet. Yet, they tower over me already.)


How they look today. Bridger loves climbing in the big one.


Troy framed a saying when we were first married that said, "Plant trees that you never plan to sit in the shade of." We've planted trees here, hoping that by the time we're grandparents, we could have a tree-lined driveway, kinda like the road to the experiment station here, so beautifully lined with huge trees. It's hard to see as it's still winter and the leaves are gone, but if you look hard in the next picture, there are 4 of the 8 sycamore trees we've planted the last 2 years. And 2 little oak tree starts we're protecting in the "tear-drop" lawn. Are we going to get to sit in the shade of our trees when they mature? Or is the big black walnut tree that's dieing in our front yard, a sign that we're not gonna be here much longer either?


2 years ago. This is a black walnut tree, like the famous tree of President Hinckley's. The one that he raised, and that was dieing just as the new Conference Center was being built. And so the pulpit in the Conference Center is made from his tree.



A picture Hanna took that I love:


How the tree looks now. A lot of branches also had to be cut out of the power lines they were growing into. It also was unfortunate to catch some new, incurable disease, that many other walnut trees in the Western USA have caught the past few years. Since Troy works with many of those experts who know about trees and stuff, it didn't take long to find out why big branches kept breaking off last summer. It's basically doomed to die a slow over the next couple years. Very sad.



It was exactly on this day, 3 years ago that we drove in to Prosser, moving our family here. Last week, Troy had his 3 year review, which although stressful, seemed to turn out more positive than he expected. Ironically, that same time, we started hearing news of MAJOR state budget cuts to Washington State University. WSU's plan with that 12-18% budget cut is to cut 50-70% of the public service programs. Which means practically gutting the Extension Programs, and lots of the employees at the station here. YIKES!





We moved here planning to settle down and stay the rest of our lives. Before Prosser, we had moved every 3 years, between college, 1st job, graduate school, post-doctoral job, and then here. Recently we've been thinking how NICE it is that after 3 years, we don't have to be planning another move! Did we think too soon? Now we have to wait a few months to see what the final verdict on the budget cuts turn out to be. Maybe a 3 year pattern is what destiny has in store for our family. One thing we've learned, is that everywhere we go, we find great friends, and it's a fun new adventure. Tiring at first, yes, but things have always worked out. I just hope we get to stay here!