It’s the middle of summer in Texas right now, and going outside after 10 AM for more than 10 minutes is usually a bad idea. It rained quite a bit last week, though, which cooled things down a bit and put me in a gardening mood. So we took a family trip to Lowe’s, to pick out the ingredients for a fun-filled afternoon. Most people are already done planting trees for the season, so you’re likely to find pretty good deals on fruit trees. We ended up getting lime, tangerine, nectarine and peach trees. Sitting in the cart while we walk through the humongous store is usually a very boring task for Jack, so to make it interesting we let him pick out the trees. I needed a pick ax to dig the holes so we went in the tool isle. While there, the kids’ tool area caught Jack’s eye. They had rakes, shovels and hoes—Jack opted to get the rake.

With the ground still relatively soft from the recent rains and a brand new (sharp) pick ax, digging the holes for the trees was no sweat. Some advice: if you want to avoid painful blisters in your hands, take off the wedding ring while you’re digging.

Your wife is around and you tell her, “honey, wearing this ring while I dig this hole is going to cause me discomfort, but I don’t mind because it means that much to me!” She will likely tell you its okay to take it off, and you just got some brownie points.

You take off the ring and put it in your pocket (at least you think you do) and forget to put it back on when you get back in. You’re at the dinner table and your wife notices your ring is off. And you realize they are in your shorts. In the washer. Oops.

Wear work gloves.

Guess which one I actually did, in the comments.

Anyway, following the directions on the little tags so conveniently attached to the trees we purchased, we had the trees in the ground in no time. Jack got to help by raking the dirt after the tree was in the ground. Within a couple of years our grocery bill will likely be lower because of the fruits these trees will bear. And best of all, we now have the memory of planting trees together. 10 years from now, I’ll be able to turn to Jack and say, “you may not remember this but you and I planted these trees together.”

Tags: father-son time, lasting memories, outdoor project, planting tree, Weekend Project