My favorite house was surrounded by big lazy oaks and pecan trees when I was a toddler. Grass didn’t grow well with all that shade. Momma would spend hours watering the dry dirt, hoping to encourage the St. Augustine grass to spread. She said it was to help the growth along.
 
After momma would run us outside so she could have peace and quiet, my brother would stomp on acorns and pecans. He said it was to make it easier for the squirrels to eat, and would help more trees to grow if they made it down into the dirt; it was something he heard in school. So we all began jumping like we were crazy, and called out to the squirrels hiding in the tree tops.
 
On really hot days all of the kids would lie in our underwear on the cool hardwood floor just in our momma’s view; behind the big front window where in the summer daddy puts a big fan blower he brought home from his job, and as she would water the yard and spray towards us bring on laughter and excitement. I figure as we felt the mist come through the fan it was encouraging all of us to grow.