Spring is here. The fruit trees bloomed in April and it was a pretty sight. Our neighbor has 5 varieties of cherry and invited us to take as much fruit as we want since most of it goes to the birds.
The cotton from the cottonwood trees has been flying for a few weeks now. When the sun is just right and there's a breeze, it looks like it's snowing. Well, it turns out that there are male and female cottonwood trees. The girls put out the cotton. The boys have red flowers and no cotton. The tree in our yard is a boy. The tree in the neighbor's yard and the one down the street are girls. Lots of cotton; those girls are flirting with our boy.
Still, the trees need the flood cycles to cause the seeds to germinate, and with all the human controls & restrictions on the river, new trees are not sprouting naturally. There are efforts by conservation groups to plant new trees, so that is good.
There was a story in the paper last week describing someone (read "bureaucrat") trying to pass a law that we could only plant male cottonwood trees because so many people have allergies. Maybe we should pass a law that allergic people can't live here! Geez.
