Dead Tree Village

My daughter watches a PBS cartoon called “Dinosaur Train”.  The train travels through the Triassic, Jurassic, and Cretaceous periods and makes stops at all kinds of places like Triceratops Terrace and Velociraptor Valley.  As the train arrives at these alliterative locales the conductor, a talking Troodon (of course), calls out the name of the place. 

So when I pulled my daughter around the backyard the other night I wasn’t surprised when she started calling out names of the places we had just passed.  “Sunflower Valley” she yelled.  “Next stop, Red Shed Station.” We lumbered around “Tomato Town” and made our way back toward the house.  When she called out “Next stop, Dead Tree Village” it occurred to me that kids frequently see things the way they really are.

I guess this tree is looking worse for wear.  Hopefully in the next week or so we will be able to rename this section “Sawdust Sanctuary.”  And then down the road maybe it will be rechristened something a little more alive.