Isn't it nice when someone else does all the work? AND foots the bill?
One fine afternoon a teenage girl knocked on my door. I was already shaking my head and offering up my "no thanks yous" to whatever she was selling when she handed me a flier. A flier with the promise of a free tree. And not only a free tree, but also the cutting and removal of concrete in my front planting strip. And not only a free tree, but the planting of said tree and filling in with nice soil. And not only a free tree, but the tree of my choice.
She was an angel to me.
Eagerly I took her flier and that very night filled it out and dropped it in the mail. Then I waited. What followed was a few months of email back and forth and notes dropped in my mailbox because I wasn't home, or didn't hear the bell because oops, dead batteries. We'd come home from Gymboree or where ever to find the sidewalk had been spray painted, a rainbow of utility graffiti that I didn't mind at all. Then one sunny Saturday two guys showed up with a saw. Right at nap time of course, but I wasn't about to turn them away.
The cutting and jackhammering took about an hour and my little trooper slept right through it. Side note: best. baby. ever. Then a few days later someone gathered up the concrete rubble. And a few days after that, a tree was planted.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwCJBsJVgf9aTOb6J4612nVejQ90hQeEnPij7709VlGNiRGix9YCrfWrYZg-GaFsF8zVoimbCzkWYcMK_xqPchszgQKkBu801iIZxkzueaPBnce9H4OIOFcYbOkuUxjXMFf3xw_92zR7nO/s1600/tridentmaple_2.jpg)
I chose a Trident Maple number one, because I can't wait to see the leaves turn bright red next fall. It's a medium-size tree that promises a long life, privacy from the apartment complex across the way, and not to tear up the sidewalk. I also like that it's branches seem to grow up instead of out. Because getting a toddler in and out of the back seat of a 1999 Jeep Cherokee with branches in your face is no picnic.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5h-Hr0EJ49JrLZcfUX5awt6xhJU7hjB1dGdQT5vD-k-ghhNWh_O-fjrqx4wQ_D1CoeQJBS2z3YnkP9YwasnUiZ8oKW4PAgDkBflzO1xugHgqaV30RbK47l2ylLJootnnrZ7ndokiIZWzG/s1600/tridentmaple_1.jpg)
So I thank you
Northern Alameda County Group of the Sierra Club. And thank you to Arthur Boone, your man in the field. I mailed a little donation, because of karma and all that. And I can't express my gratitude enough. This tree-planting program is amazing, especially for our little neck of Oakland in the midst of its revival.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkYXN7k9YA2SztSgy6j644sg4-uDrqBhtdSlTlbg6ev_suGopCbXJEdbhOQNJMgcbgthWtlDpdD4-6K__oFIEz1FCRQ_j89FOTny9oE1aO2UJuYsPTFb_gJLSpW_UV4XPP4TL09g7E9ocJ/s1600/tridentmaple_3.jpg)
She may not be much to look at now, but this tree won the adoption lottery. Once it settles in a bit I can't wait to plant and mulch around it, finally bringing some color to our front yard. It's a manageable little space versus the enormity of the projects behind it. Grow! Grow! Grow!