Here I am

"See? Told you you'd give this blogging thing up."

"Sit down, Alter Ego. Have a muffin."

I'm having thoughts. Oh yeah, a few of them, too.

It's about the trees here in South Florida. First, let me tell you about the brave little six-footer that hung on for dear life through hours of last year's Wilma lashing only to be snapped in half during the very last 30 minutes of that beeatch's fury. While 30 and 40 footers passed out all around him/it, this young one tried its best. Or maybe it was just stubborn.

So a few months later when an orange band was found wrapped around the trunk, I was pissed. The tree was marked for removal even though it had sprouted new branches and was making a lopsided comeback. He'd been deemed unworthy of adorning the Homeowner Association's common area. A pockmark on the face of a manicured lawn.

Me? A Tree-hugger you say? Mebbe.

And yesterday, while driving my usual route to work, I noticed a line of stumps and timber along the edge of a corporate park where very large, shady, and beautiful trees had been.

Is this how South Florida prepares for hurricane season?

The oddest thing I've seen is a news report in the hours before an oncoming hurricane in which the reporter carried on about the very large trees which could down powerlines. As he spoke, a 40 footer swayed in the increasing breeze, then dropped onto the ground in what seemed like a dead faint. Poor tree had apparently been overcome while listening to the report.

And That's All.