A hard day 07-10-08

The "tree murderers" started in at 7:30 this morning. The sound I dislike more than any other is that of a chainsaw. It isn't just the shrill whine, but also the knowledge that another forty year old tree is going to disappear. One of the features that attracted us to this house was its location in a neighborhood with a great many tall trees - pine, jacaranda, liquid amber, several different kinds of palms. But as soon as a house is resold and new neighbors move in, the trees start coming down. If they would only have the trees trimmed properly so that they weren't top heavy or didn't have unbalanced limbs. But without trimming, the trees become a hazard in our heavy Santana winds. Palms, of course, can be pruned to remove the thatch of dried fronds hanging down, which are an enormous fire hazard. But there is no way to keep them from growing very, very tall. They don't have much of a root ball - when the soil is saturated the wind blows the palms blow down on houses, cars and sometimes people.

When I went out at 7:45 the cutter had already removed all the fronds.

He then started cutting off sections of the trunk about 2 - 2-1/2 feet long and pushing them off to fall with a THUD to the ground. Then he would move his safety harness down 2-1/2 feet and start another horizontal cut.

And down and down....

A young man below kept a sharp eye upward as he watched for and collected all the pieces to place on the curb for the mobile shredder which turned everything into little bits.

It was nice of the neighbor to have his street tree, a crape myrtle trimmed. The city has not trimmed the street trees since I moved here in 1986, but I have mine trimmed when I have the few large trees pruned.

When I turned to go in the house I saw one of our new neighbors huddled down in a depression in the lawn (where the people before us cut down a tree and didn't properly remove the roots). In all the years I have been here I never saw a bunny until about four months ago. Needless to say there are now at least a dozen. Maybe this means the coyotes have moved back to the wilder parts of the county.

I had to get inside and get busy because a termite company was coming to look at the subterranean termite damage Liz and I discovered yesterday when we were moving furniture. They are a big problem in this area. I'm told it is because this was once all orange, lemon and walnut orchards. This house has been spot treated twice before and there are two new areas that must be treated. And I'm having the perimeter treated also. Total $1200 that I hadn't planned to dish out right now. Such are the joys of home ownership - right?

My friend Carol and I went to the delicious "Fish in a Bottle" restaurant this evening. The food was fantastic. Every time I go there I am going to photograph the presentation of the food, but always forget. This evening I remembered, but I had left my camera home when I downloaded the tree trimming photos. Woe is I. But Carol had her camera and we took a few pictures - she'll send them along in the morning. And then I will post them.