Monday, August 11, 2008

Yep...It's a great feakin' Monday!!

Since I moved back into the this house last fall, it has been non-stop projects. This little property could easily fill a couple of seasons of "This Old House". But I love this property. It is the house that I grew up in. It's familiar. And although it doesn't exactly fit what a lot of people consider "up to par" by today's standards...it has some major, MAJOR factors going for it. The most important being that it is paid for!! Others being that it is on the edge of town and we have tons of privacy afforded by big, beautiful trees.

One of the first things I tackled was trimming everything that I could reach on those trees. The only thing left was the tops of some of them need to be cleaned up. I was extra-ordinarily happy these last few days, because Chris is coming this weekend and one of the projects on our list was to bring the tractor in and tackle cleaning ups some of the dead branches from the tree tops. Perfect!!

See, this guy really needs to be cleaned up...
He is right beside the house and we have been rather worried that some of the windstorms that we have gotten could send one of these big branches crashing down on the roof. I figured...no worries now...my honey is coming to help me and we will get it all cleaned up. Chinese Elms have a tremendous ability to rejuvenate if the dead stuff is removed. He will bush back out and continue to provide wonderful shade over the house.

This monstrous Cottonwood is probably one of the original trees ever in this small town. We have 3 of them on the property. This guy is getting a lot of dead branches, so he was another project for Chris and I to tackle...
So mom shows up this afternoon with the tree-trimming guy from the electric company. Don't ask me why! I guess she wanted to have him look at two trees that need to be trimmed back, because they are growing into the electric lines. So he gets out of his truck and looks at the trees. Yep, he says, I can cut them back for you. No charge. Well, momma gets the bright idea to have this guy look at some of the other trees around the place and the next thing you know...he is making a list of the trees he is going to have to....REMOVE!!!

SAY WHAT????

Chris and I did not spend days last fall, cleaning these trees up to have the electric company come in and just cut them all down! But that is exactly what they are going to do. All of the trees on the south side of our road HAVE to go.
These big nice shade trees...

And this entire row...
WHAT THE HELL?!?!?!

Apparently, due to a large fire last year, that was deemed "caused by a tree falling on an electrical line", the electric company has adopted a new policy that ANY tree whose trunk is within 15 feet of the power line, MUST be removed.

I'm am heartsick! I loved the privacy this tree row afforded us from the prying eyes of snoopy neighbors. All of these trees have looked just gorgeous this year, after being cleaned up and trimmed last fall. Crap, CRAP, CRAP!!!

This sucks!!

Alright, I am done crying...I gotta get on the bat phone and see if I can find a backhoe before next week, cause I am gonna try to save some of these guys. There are some that can be moved to safer places on this property. Maybe we can get some of them back to Colorado to plant at that house and I know of one person who is looking for some saplings to move to his place.

I don't even want to think about the lose of the Cottonwood, that will make me cry!!

8 comments:

LatigoLiz said...

Maybe a better and cheaper way to go would to be looking into getting the power lines buried from the pole on the street to the house instead? Just an idea.

Anonymous said...

What! That's totally bogus. I feel your tree pain - we just had to have 2 taken down to dutch elm and it broke my little heart. I can't imagine losing all those mature trees.

Nuzzling Muzzles said...

I'm sorry about that. Trees are so important to me too. Privacy is getting to be a commodity rather than a right. Trees serve so many purposes and feel like family after a while.

Mrs. Mom said...

Oh No They Would NOT NOT NOT Get Away With THAT BS. NO NO NO.

Policy my a$$ here. Time to consult an attorney I think.

grrr...... that there my girl would be fighting words to this outdoors girl.

BrownEyed Cowgirl said...

Liz-Unfortunately, that is not the power line that comes to our house. The two trees that mom wanted trimmed are the ones touching the power line to the house. They are willing to trim them back. So those trees won't have to be cut down.

The sad part is that the tree row technically isn't part of our property. We have no legal standing whatsoever. Chris and I cleaned it up and I have maintained it because we are the only house on this block and it looks nice to pull into the drive-way and have neat and tidy ditches.

After much discussion with the gentleman(he was VERY nice-can't blame him for having to do his job), he agreed to trim all of the dead branches off of the Cottonwood. If he doesn't run into rot-he will simply clean it up. If it is rotten, it has to come down.

Of course, the only good thing about all of this is that there is absolutely no charge for cutting the trees down and cleaning them up. The trees that we want trimmed up, there will be no charge to trim them, but we are responsible for the clean-up.

Callie said...

Oh That sucks. I know how that goes, the electric company has an easement through our property! Makes it difficult to build or plant!

Train Wreck said...

No way! Fight it! They are granfathered in!! Our APS electric company will do the same thing. They trim your trees for free and if they have to cut one down they will give you a voucher for a new tree. (for each tree they cut down!) Our guys come around about every two years. They wouldnt dare tell me I had to cut a tree down! They offer to trim them away from the lines. Of course the first time they came by to tell me what they were going to do, I had a loaded rifle in my hands! (Ok it was a bb gun but he didn't know!)NO WAY! Fight them, It is a wind break and keeps your soil from eroding, provides shade for your horses, make a list!! You need me to come over, with my "rifle!?" LOL!

BITR Country Girl said...

That's total BS! Did you tell them where they can go with their chainsaws?