Prunus angustifolia

Speaking of trees

I have ranted before (here, in person, on the phone, etc.) about how offensive I find this business of measuring everything by money, cost & savings. 

I am not sure the guy with the newest, latest & greatest tv/car/home experiences a better quality of life than the guy who lives in a small house without a tv & rides his bike to work but so much about our society emphasizes the guy doing the most expensive thing is the happiest.

Which brings me to Arbor Day, as last Friday was Arbor Day...in Cambodia.  In Alaska & Maine it was the week before, but I wasn't organized enough to get this posted in time.  For most of the UStates, Arbor Day is in April or March.  Here in Fladidah Arbor Day was in January, but you would not know it  Or maybe you would, we have a lot of trees.  Not in downtown Miami, but in general, throughout the state.  We probably have fewer than we used to, though, but maybe not.  new homes sales are still in the toilet here (which I am fine with, actually), so not so much clearing is going on.

So trees.  Who doesn't love trees?  Well, it turns out lots of bloggers have neighbors who hate trees (just go ahead & Bing it; I think my favorite was this one; it starts slow but that response along the lines of "worry about what your neighbor might do that isn't cutting down a few branches" has possibilities).  Mostly neighbors seem to hate the tree next door that sheds in their yard.  This is apparently the tree version of that guy who lets his German Shepherd crap at the top of our driveway.  If you saw where I lived, you would realize how ridiculous this is.  See that photo at the top of the blog...see that little opening in the trees, between "cockatiels" & "chickens".  That is the driveway this dog needs to hit.  & hit it he does, more than he misses anyhow.  Unless they walk by more than once a day. 

Where was I?  TREES.  Trees are good.  Trees are great!  But don't take my word for it, go ahead & road test this exciting Tree Benefits Calculator.  & if it turns out they actually improve the cash value of well, anything, then that's a win-win.  If you live nearby & are short of trees give me jingle because our cedars, loquats, redbud -even the magnolia no matter what the experts say- are prolific & it kills me to just mows over them. 

52 Photos Project: Chopped

A couple years ago we were putting up a greenhouse & we decided the best place to catch winter sun but semi-shade in summer, be sheltered from storms but not in danger from any large falling trees & have access to plumbing & potential electric hook-up was just exactly where there was already a tree.

Let me be clear, we would not have killed a healthy tree (more on this in a future rant), but this tree was on its way out.  It had been struck by lightning & left off balance & a bit loose-in-the-roots (this actually took years to notice, but in the end even I could rock the tree bumping it with the riding mower, the horses scratching their rumps made it look like a major wind was whipping through the branches).  Then during hurricanes Charley-Frances-Jeanne the wind really did tilt it further.  So we had been carving pieces off as they began to interfere with the fence, the side of the house, the path between the fence & the side of the house for a while & the greenhouse was just the push we need to take it down.

The removal was more or less a one-man job.  Even pulling the stump was only a 1 & 1/2 man + truck with chains job.  Once that stump was out of the ground, it was a different story.  It ripped the chain off the chainsaw more than once & in the end we just sort of rolled it a few feet to the north, replaced the pasture fence we had taken down to take down the tree & now on sunny mornings the birds gather on the old stump, pecking at the varieties of bird seed I toss over it every few days.  It is quite a bit smaller these days, having collapsed in the center but still a bear to move around.

Finally for this week at 52 Photos Project, I give you Chopped.