(re-run)
It’s not supposed to be this windy in July. Not only was it a cool day, but wind gusts reached up to 50 miles per hour. I noticed my dog, Pepper, crunching on a small green apple this morning. I thought it was odd that the tree was dropping apples so soon. Little did I know that the tree had split in two, hours before.
It was 2:00 p.m. before I realized that the tree was down. I was sitting on the pot in my new bathroom, gazing out the new window to see blue sky and the tiny red apples at the top of the tree. But where were the apples? It was just sky.
I spoke to Jesus as I pulled up my pants and opened the door. The trunk had split right at the huge limb that served the live half of the tree. Years ago, when the gardeners put in a foundation drain, they cut right through the main root. That killed half the tree and it gave no apples for years. Then half of the tree tha was alive fought back and produced apples once again. Bark peeled off the dead half of the tree. It was ugly after that but in the side yard, ,so I left it alone.
Last year I harvested hundreds of apples. This year would’ve been the same except for today’s wind. Pepper probably ate green apples for hours before I figured it out. Tomorrow, she’ll have the runs, I’m sure.
The good news is that a friend from chorus will take the hundreds of apples that I picked off the fallen tree today. I needed to get them off the ground. I got out my pruning shears and chopped off many branches, putting leaves, limbs and fruit into the green yard waste can. The branches that didn’t fit went onto the potting table to get them out of Pepper’s reach.
I had just been admiring the tree this morning, through the new bathroom window. It just goes to show that nothing lasts forever.
After I frantically cleaned up the apple mess, I headed out to dance to my favorite Michael Jackson cover band in Clayton. I was waiting for the other shoe to drop. Not only had the apple tree split in two today, I had also smacked the side of my head with the car door after dropping off a donation at Saver’s in Dublin. The guy was talking to me, I was distracted and must’ve thought I was in the Prius and not the taller SUV. Maybe the sunglasses interfered with my ability to gauge where my face was in relation to the door height. Ouch.
I shopped in Saver’s with a big headache, pressing a cold tea cup against my face as I walked around the store. It was Saturday crowded, people finding all kinds of things to buy. I managed to spend $40, although nothing was too exciting.
No other shoe dropped. I danced in my ripped jeans until my back couldn’t dance anymore.
FIRST DATE, WORST DATE EVER! 