four trees forward, four barriers back

friday can't figure out where the hell these trees came from suddenly.

but little does she know - our tree lawn was the recipient of four tiny trees last week - courtesy of the city's forestry department. we think they're maples, or at least that's what we were told we were slated for months ago, but it's hard to tell at this point they're so naked and all. it's probably going to take years for these little guys to start to resemble real trees, but you gotta love the fact they're free.

i had requested them when we first moved in early in the summer on a tip from a neighbor, and the forestry department snuck 'em in just under the gun. we've been consistently in 20s for the last five days. any longer and the ground might have been impossible to dig into.



maples look so gorgeous in the fall. hopefully, it'll be like a taste of vermont in our front yard.

speaking of things the city does...



yesterday, the street department decided to plop these ugly ass barriers at our intersection. for some reason, the city loves these things and have even dotted our main thoroughfare with them in recent months to slow down traffic.

i guess the idea is to prevent drivers from running the stop sign, which i wasn't aware of as a problem, but what do i know?



dabney and i spent much of the morning discussing how one actually navigates said intersection. i swear i've seen two different methods in use (problem #1). in the end we both agree that while said intersection resembles a mini-rotary, one does not actually go around the temporary-looking permanent barriers to turn left. they have been plopped there just to remind one to stop. for me, they're more of a reminder that for every step forward to beautify the city (free trees), there are two steps (or in this case, four temporary-looking permanent barriers) back .