Half of the deck behind my house was covered in cool shade. A pleasant breeze passed by, temporarily teasing away the summer heat for the moment. Some friends dropped by for a visit. One visitor said, “It feels nice out here.” Everyone agreed, so we all sat down around the deck table. While admiring the yard, another commented, “I see that you have an apple tree in the flowerbed along the driveway.”

I glanced over at the tree and chuckled, “That poor tree has a funny story about how I got it and it has a sad story about what its life has been like in my yard.”

My friends were curious and wanted to know more. So, I told them the funny story first, about how one year I won a gift certificate to a local plant nursery in a “Largest Weed Contest” at the Central Wisconsin Fair. When I was declared the winner, one of the other contestants said I had cheated. My 25-foot wild grapevine aced his gigantic burdock bush. The judge of the contest promised Big Burdock Man that next year the contest rules would outlaw vines. I accepted the certificate as the winner, said “Thank-you” and escaped my fellow contestant’s burning disapproval by quickly disappearing into the surrounding crowd.