Playin' Outside

Visitors to Austin are usually surprised by how green it appears, especially when they're looking down into a canyon full of Texas (or Escarpment) live oaks, Quercus fuisiformis .  Over the past few days, those live oaks have been creating a symphony of deep popping, crashing sounds as their leafy canopies and limbs became heavy with ice, causing them to split and crash to the ground. It's not pretty.  It's not fun.  But an energetic person with heavy gloves and a chainsaw could put a couple of kids through college by digging us all out.  It would seem many are doing just that.   On a personal level, I learned a few things. First, my neighbor's elm has looked like it's been on its last limb for at least five years now.  We've mentioned the very large, dangling limb that could fall with a slight breeze.  She ignored us.  She seemed to decide we were evil as a result.  Interactions became somewhat chilly.  And yet, when that and another enormous branch became ice