Boomer Prepares to Save Neighborhood Trees

I am generally not a joiner. But at a recent neighborhood party I began to talk about the sad state of our Elm trees in the neighborhood. When a tree is identified as having Dutch Elm disease, the city paints a big orange ring on the tree with a giant letter A. These are the trees that are cut down. Reminds you a bit of The Scarlett Letter. And every summer I note a few more orange rings of death and this year was particularly saddened by the death of an absolutely gorgeous, huge, magestic tree one block up the street. We vaccinate our elm tree and (knock on tree wood), it seems to be working. We're one of the few elms left on our block.

Little did I know I was speaking to the committe head for our Neighborhood Environment, part of the Lowry Hill Neighborhood Association. I was immediately drafted. So, this coming Wednesday at 7:30 a.m., I'm going to my first meeting. I don't know what I'll be doing, but I've been forced to put my energy where my mouth is though at that hour of the morning, not sure about the energy level.

Perhaps I'll find that neighborhood activism agrees with me.