At first, all I had been told about Austin's Mountain Cedars was that the pollen made the evening skies a beautiful purple and provided for amazing sunsets. Liars!
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEj681z6mbCw2PdphhR8tX1olYFP9Gf7wfQLOvINPyDMcUpli_th8Y9djJ2ePPQPnLPeNRv1ezlql8yQeH7sk_OktCWiTmTNVQSyyFAJCpXpu8bA7gtQoMNoXvoyPsmvbmN3UkKDjmXaLE/s1600/cedar+pollen.gif) |
Isn't that a lovely shade? |
It turns out, that the tree is really a juniper, not a cedar. The official Latin name is,
Juniperus ashei.
I studied a little Latin:
juni for "worthless" +
perus for "plant" and
ashei which is the word for "hateful."
Worthless plant, hateful.
For the first year, I was kind of like...
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP48J9NYUpmP63J9ECOPuM_rSgY26z7PHocM-rvmh1r07wvMpVqXD8TnAyjbn2d9vQ3IzXDThKTYw__Q93CeKJIHIi_hyHgK916HVxHt8OSvnrZxrEvJueLaXVy2pVBNjfMj3Ao8r6_c2K/s1600/defence_gif.gif) |
Could explain my grades that year. |
I moved back to Fort Worth where the early cowpokes either strung-up or shot every mountain cedar caught north of the Brazos River; and so enjoyed October through March again, which was kind of like...
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi80GPPf-QhC_1GtVmCqgbZ3uQk3tnLfb_83UpCuYYbG2L6XZjZthRrjVseSjCU-fddFLVGPHxod7n382_jCoznkDbtreUGpzOEONQSou-W6B2onxbLyKBml88n89JftQ4GJVpA_86CRVQh/s1600/url.gif) |
Yep. |
But then I was transferred back to Austin a few years later, and by December, I was thinking like...
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguSAxyM8WmtI2sqCDiB0HwTilxgGBxKksXBnJCKCEyY6nexKpQtN4F3xlNVEj0hnO0K9GR74ZAKCrISNKKtPGrprnNZwwVawhsEsXVvHK8Fw8BJ3lH8KAdibfMav8Gdf62mW-_udZxt0tN/s1600/wood-chop-o1.gif) |
I have a moral duty to: Kill. These. Damned. Trees. |
The company transferred me back to Fort Worth; then off to grad school in Wisconsin; back to Fort Worth; off to California; and back near Fort Worth again.
Then, ten years ago, I was back in Austin, and the first October, I was like...
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2AZTP2AB-Rl3Qs5QOhe2UsIJZnePOMKCF1yi3YgIaM3BgQXshNc91sEr9Tiz9Ca0G_w62v6hyphenhyphen5v_NlkpOO-14TRAKndrSbjUDaGBtbA0Hs6-wBJzrSXDeWLgsJfXZ3mFTWetOGQj_vFCb/s1600/treedeath.gif) |
We have a moral duty to make these trees suffer! |
By February, I was like...
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidI0lORym4DY1EjORcUlPg3rP7PlZ_V6LSDoOy_qRcYyenYUUBZGQy9W9s84V9tUyNv6YhL7T5uDWbyxK0bu6LJbgmsNztD8Iezrv98bdtFy0DkNAKk8dtFGZLs48HMZ0NGYbXXXGd8wKi/s1600/flamethrower-o.gif) |
My God! The trees are attacking! |
And like...
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJpOSb5p8UU5jaGMeP7sXko1RueBBewZzINX1VXCbAJouFSGJ00OO0OlHYGZQWZcC22ipHk1MU_T4e5CQL83Sh8Hec0Dj9iQJiah-DX-lH5DXDuztrCMBkzLlFJR-K1Jsncph4BN_Xgk7I/s1600/tumblr_mi3wsuI9b61rmyhabo1_500.gif) |
If war is what these trees want, then... |
But after ten years of this, I'm like...
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhomgjdMBeDiXYyBuV00tRPpElNEwyjC79nzFJ_PaJ9vg1t-haugkHOQ7Rmdh1801Ydm27C4uOB4QhkZmpxH9QkajJFxg5E8oQSq6SXKrLDH1Tlz2XoNutF79-1GSHt6jNBXuK7FnGNM1JZ/s1600/757602491_1639005.gif) |
Gotta go! We're doomed! |