fig trees vs. oak trees

I planned to be here Saturday to help tackle the fallen fig tree. I really was. I offered to cancel my plans to take the girls swimming at Slide Rock. I really envisioned spending the day rolling a wheel barrow from the back yard to the trailer in the front yard. I could smell the exhaust of the chain saw, earplugs in. I could already feel the figs stuck to the bottom of my shoes.

But then, my superhero husband decided to hire some men to help him instead (gotta love that guy) and let us go on our merry way to spend the day in Oak Creek Canyon:

instead of here:

It was an all day project and it still looks like this:Although Melanie and I were spared the wheel barrow detail Saturday, it is still going to be another full day of work to get the rest of the stump out and clean up the yard. Dave's shoes have about a 2" thick layer of fig yuck on the bottom of them. That, alone, will be a big clean up project.
I always liked that fig tree . . . well for 11 months out of the year anyway. (I will be glad to never step on a fig in our lawn again as long as I live.) In the winter, when the tree was bare, the lines of the branches were visually interesting. In the spring and summer, the deep green huge leaves were beautiful and that one tree alone gave shade to half of our yard.

I'm not sure what Adam and Eve were thinking, though, wearing fig leaves for clothes. The leaves are sizeable and would provide some adequate coverage, but the whole darn tree is full of irritating fig residue. I wouldn't wear it, I'm just saying. . .