Saturday, May 16, 2009

I took a Nap and Summer Arrived

It has been an unusually wet Spring. So the yard is lush beyond anything I've ever seen this time of year. And what is usually a Spring job of weeding and clean up has become overwhelming. I look at the work and then think, I need a cup of tea and a nap cause it's a jungle out there. We live in an arid climate and this part of the valley has very poor soil. It's mostly clay that, once dried out, is like brick.

I have one tree that MUST be removed this year. I put it off last year due to the poverty of paying off the new roof on the little house. This year it has to go. But it's one of those trees that will need to be cut from the top down a little bit at a time. And this kind of tree cutting will require a cherry picker or as some call it, a bucket truck--the kind of vehicle used by utility companies with above ground cables to attend to. The kind of tree removal that a friend with a chain saw can't do because if any of it comes down in the wrong direction, it will crash down on the greenhouse roof of the little house solarium or on the new roof of the little house. It could take down my chain link fence, or the wooden fence or the neighbors fence or garage. It's a big job, but somebody's got to do it and soon.

9 comments:

jmsjoin said...

Utah
How soon we forget! With the changing seasons we all wish for come the complaints that spring eternal. Your tree looks quite beautiful. Sure it can't wait a year or two. Hell if it falls on your house insurance will cover it. By the way, that looks like a thousand dollar tree with a cherry picker. Good luck!

yellowdoggranny said...

we had summer for 2 weeks and now it's raining and spring like..texas...gotta love it.

Commander Zaius said...

Yeah, I know the feeling. I've got two old pine trees that drop some seriously big limbs that very much need to be removed. And it will take a professional since they are so large and close to the house.

As I have written before lawn care and me just are not a match. Watching the suburbanite drones perpetually tend their yards making sure the smallest flaw is corrected is something I just can't get into. Basic maintenance and even a sane desire for it to look nice is one thing but I refuse to be a slave to half an acre of suburbia.

I truly can see myself migrating back close to the coast after the kids are grown and living in some sort of camper trailer in a certified white trash retirement trailer park. Add a beat up old truck to get me to the beach and a couple of fishing rods to cast in the surf, now that would be heaven.

Utah Savage said...

James, good to see you. Yea, you're right it will be at least a thousand dollar tree removal. I'm hoping to make a deal with someone who really needs the money and will see me as an advertisement for them in the neighborhood. I have a neighbor next door who has a row of giant Chestnut trees. When the chestnuts start dropping they dent the roofs of the cars parked in my front driveway and in their driveway. In late Spring the drift of Chestnut blossom petals is like flesh colored snow.

YDG, I'm still laughing about the latest email you sent me. It's the drunk guy whose wife supper-glued his flip-flops to the floor.

Beach this beach bum life you're dreaming of is within sight. I can feel it, smell it, see your old pickup truck, your fishing pole, maybe an old dog to ride in the back of the truck who'll walk the beach with you.

jmsjoin said...

Love chestnut trees, too bad you can't eat those things. Maybe your neighbor wants to get in on a deal. The more the merrier and they keep the wood.

Utah Savage said...

Chestnut trees are magnificant of properly spaced and placed. Lining a long driveway is not an ideal location. The spikey husks that fall away from the nut are hell on dogs feet, bare human feet and children's feel, then there is the body work on the roofs of the cars, which is a waste of time and money as long as the tress still stand. And they tall bloom stalks and so full of pollen that everyone with allergies is now in agony. And even the pollen is a problem for the cars since as it drifts down it sticks to the cars creating a gummy surface that is very hard to get off. The flowers are fragrant and I love the smell, but the rest of the time they are a problem.

jmsjoin said...

Utah
I wouldn't have wanted them at my house but I knew where every tree in the City of Salem was. I didn't wait for them to fall but climbed every tree in the city. We use to throw the maces at each other and later have chestnut fights. It would have stunk having one in the yard though as it would have been my job. I can't imagine parking my car under there in the fall. Good luck!

lisahgolden said...

I hate it that you're losing a tree. And I hear you on the overwhelming thoughts of yard clean up. Every year I vow to do a better job with it in the fall and every year I don't and then spring is wah!!!!!!

Anonymous said...

A cherry picker will really help you out. About three years ago I decided to build my own home instead of hiring the expensive contractors. It was actually quite easy, even with my limited knowledge of construction. I am just thankful that I had the bucket truck handy because my pick up couldn’t cut it.