My Sycamore Tree

One of the first things that attracted me to my house when we were looking for a house to buy, was the large sycamore tree in my backyard. In the spring and summer it has huge, beautiful, green leaves. The tree is so close to my house and my deck that when I sit on the deck, it feels like I'm sitting in a tree house. It's cool and comfortable and I like to listen to the singing birds that live in it. The kids love the tree because Dale built an actual tree house in it (I think the neighbor kids play in it more than my kids though.) Also, it is "the best tree ever" for tree swings. My kids all think it's a great tree. However, those same huge leaves that I love in the summer, don't fall until late November. Usually it is freezing in November and we have to rake the yard when it's freezing. We do have a garden now, so we can rake those nasty leaves into the garden, so it isn't such a terrible job anymore. I use to hate putting all those leaves into garbage bags. This year it was also pretty warm especially for November and the girls got the chance to play in them, becaue the leaves weren't all moldy and mushy, and they piled-up high. They had a great time jumping into them. They swung from the swings and landed in the them, and then later Dale threw the girls into the pile. They thought that was pretty great.



Dale on the other hand doesn't like the tree. It is too close to the house. It is over grown and out of control, and the cat use to climb the tree and then jump onto the roof of the house where he would get stuck. The only thing that Dale likes about the tree is the shade it gives the house in the summer. He would like to cut it down and plant another tree, but the kids and I won't let him. So instead he had to cut the guts out of it on the side closest to the house because we don't want that the branches to break off and hurt the house. The roots of the tree have uprooted some of the sprinkler pipes and heaved the basement patio floor. Dale is right the tree is too close to the house, and one day I will have to let him cut it down, but until then, I will enjoy my sycamore tree.