In honor of Earth Day, I decided for this week’s Throwback Thursday I’d share with you Angel Chuck Billy’s love of trees, specifically his fruit trees. For many years around this time he would insist on planting new ones in the yard. However, also every spring, just as they were starting to bloom, Chuck Billy’s nemesis, the deer, would emerge from the forest, hungry from winter, and would eat those tasty blossoms. I never minded sharing, but apparently when deer eat the blossoms the fruit doesn’t grow. So year after year Chuck Billy would go through great lengths to protect his precious trees. The following post is when he recruited me to help stand guard.
Fruit of the Bloom (May 20, 2020)
The Deer were nibbling on my precious fruit tree blooms again. Last year all their snacking damaged two of my apple tree saplings and one died. Therefore this year if I’m ever going to finally get fruit, I need to stop these bloom raiders by standing guard at my trees. Unfortunately I asked Asa, a blooming fool, to help with this important duty.
Asa: You can count on me Chuck Billy!
Asa: Oh sorry, that was me. I had a scratch.
Chuck Billy: I wish there were a few other traits you inherited.
Chuck Billy: You know what makes me happy? Silence!
Chuck Billy: Maybe if you actually worked, you could whistle! Now stop making that noise.
Chuck Billy: 1, 2, 3… Stop distracting me! We need to be alert for Deer!
Chuck Billy: An eternity Asa, a blooming eternity!
2025 Update: Angel Chuck Billy never did get that bountiful harvest that he dreamed of, and it is too early in the season to tell if this year will be any different. So rather than plant another fruit tree, this year I planted a small Christmas tree in his memory. Chuck Billy passed in December, I picked out this tree on Patriot’s Day, which happened to also be Easter weekend, and planted it on Earth Day. It won’t grow fruit like the others, but perhaps Chuck Billy won’t mind if I add the occasional decoration to it in his memory.
