I do some things in moderation.

I have trees in my yard. Hundreds of trees. Huge trees. Big trees. Medium trees. Small trees. Spruce. Ash. Pine. Maples. Oaks. Cedar. Locust. Aspen. Basswood. Tamarack. Willow. Cottonwood. Gingko. Arbovitae. Birch. Even a Chinese rose tree. Many of my neighbors have expansive green lawns. Well-manicured. Chemically-treated to keep out dandelions and weeds. And very few trees. I have very little grass. Because it's so shady. Grass won't grow. But I have all kinds of ground-cover that thrive in the shade. Some of which tends to creep over to my neighbors. And I have about 200 birdhouses, too. And rock gardens. And all sorts of shrubs. When I married Jeanne back in 1969, our yard was typical of the neighborhood. We had a rolling lawn, too. But Jeanne gave me permission to plant trees. And lo and behold, I never stopped. And now, 40 years later, I'm reaping the benefits of the plantings. Some people think I overdo lots of things. Like my book collection. I must have 5,000 books. At least. Book shelves in every room of the house. Including the bathroom, the kitchen, the laundry room, the hallways. Even in the garage. And music galore. Thousands of compact discs and casette tapes. And maybe 100 clocks. And 30 or 40 radios. And 200 coffee cups. And 100 beer mugs and steins and glasses. And 100 sweaters. And I have a vast autograph collection of major league baseball players from the late 1940s and the 1950s. On penny postcards the players sent me (upon my request) when I was a teen-ager. But I do some things in moderation. I've been in love with only two women in my entire life. One woman at a time. That's all I can handle. And they're worth far more than everything else I have. Combined. --Jim Broede