Top Priority

Anyone that knows Lincoln knows that he has a bit of a problem regarding crossing the street. It has taken about two years to teach him that he has to stop and look before he crosses the street. Even still, he gets so excited when he sees his friends out that he just can hardly contain himself. He MUST run across the street. Most of the time he is so excited he doesn't remember to stop, let alone look. So, naturally I've been concerned about this. And it doesn't help that since our home backs up to a field, the road at the end of our property narrows significantly. And it also has a very large tree growing in the canal at the end of our property. All of this makes it so that child or adult has to go well into the street to see around it, to cross safely. On that principle I emailed the city to see if they could trim the tree in such a way to prevent me and my neighbors from having to do this. Within an hour of emailing, I received a message from a city police officer, asking me to call him back. Well, I didn't get this message until later that night, when of course the officer was off duty. So, I stressed all weekend about why a police officer would be calling me. I was searching my mind for any wrong things that I could have done. Well, Monday morning I called him and he informed me that he was calling about my tree request. Weird?! A police officer? So, he told me he would look into it and call me back. Well, the next day, he told me that he had come out to look at the tree and it was a hazard to drivers. Whatever, just as long as it's fixed, right? Well, only a week and a half later these guys show up and are chopping down the tree. Not just trimming, they are removing it. We go out to watch him from our backyard, of course. Since that's what we do...watch construction and deconstruction. The guy stops his chainsaw and comes over to talk to me. The first thing he says is, "Is your Daddy the mayor, or something?" What?! He went on to tell me that they were told this was a top priority and the tree had to be removed right away, no questions asked. I told him that I just emailed a request in. So, he said he's going to call me when he needs something. =) Well, I of course, took pictures. And actually the main reason for this extremely long post, besides that I thought it was funny that they took it so seriously is....that I miss the tree. How lame is that. Our neighborhood is so new, that there aren't any mature trees, and as ugly as that one was, it was still something to look at. I actually feel guilty for having it removed. Especially because they put a huge, ugly cement barrier at the end of the road now. I told my friends that I need to plant wild flowers in front of the barrier or something. I should use these mystical powers I possess for the greater good, not for the bringing down of an innocent tree! On the bright side, we can see down the street now. Anyone have an idea of how I can beautify the cement barrier?

The cutting

Our naked corner of our backyard.

The pretty barrier.