Butchered trees
The holes in the cedar are probably woodpecker since I hear them alot. A few years ago, there was a whole family of them in my yard. Other trees in the neighborhood (pecan especially) have holes. I've seen lots of woodpeckers pecking at it. Of couse, they are probably pecking at some insect. Is a sapsucker an insect?
The tree wasn't actually in decline. It had been, but it was coming back. It went into shock a few years ago when the power company decided one small limb was getting too close to the line. At the slow growth rate, it really wasn't. As soon as I saw the cut, I put a mud pack on it to stop the bleeding. Within a month, the sprays became brittle, but they didn't turn brown. I used a lot of love, water, and rabbit pellets to bring it back. This spring was the first time it had cones since that cut. I was hopeful it's be well enough to decorate this year. That's one reason it hurt me so much when they did such a drastic cut. After working so hard to get this tree back to life, and just as it was showing signs of improvement... I can't save it this time. I've known this tree for 45 years. It's a part of my family. It's Christmas.
Yes, the maple must go. To be honest, we discussed it for years. The reason it was still there, it had a really good shade. It shaded our whole yard and house. The 20 foot cut was done by the power line trimmers about 15 years ago. On that occasion, I came home at lunch and found them in my yard. They had already cut the two trunks (that are now missing) to 20 feet and had left the other two at about 50 feet. I asked them to cut them, also, because of the risk of them falling on the house. We had been afraid for a long time, but everyone wanted more than we could afford to make the cut. Within a few years after the cut, the tree had grown new limbs and was just as shady as before. It was an ugly tree when we moved in the house but the shade value can't be replaced in our lifetime. It is an even more ugly tree, now. We'll never have a full grown shade tree, again. We're too old to grow saplings into trees.
I didn't make a website about it. I parked some pictures on a page in my website because those of you who are responding asked for pictures. This forum only allows one picture, which isn't nearly enough to see anything, so I parked them on a page. As for sueing, I hope it doesn't come to that. But it's not right that they come on my property, unannounced, and butcher my trees. I've asked, three times, for a copy of the easement. Each time they tell me they are looking for it. But, so far, they haven't even proven that they have a right to have a pole in my yard.
Their rules and regulations say things like "minimal change," "minimum cut," "topping prohibited," "cutting of leaders is prohibited," and "not to detract from the natural beauty." I think they broke a few rules in my yard. If they had done what the other trimmers had done for the past 25 years, I would not have said a word. But there was a lot more than minimal change and minimum cut. When your neighbors start asking what happened to your trees, when their own trees had been trimmed, too, you gotta wonder what happened to your trees.
The reason I'm angry is because I'm not only going to lose every adult tree in my yard, but I'm also losing my deer and rabbit and birds. The first day after the cut, I burned my fingers cranking my truck. I've parked in the same place for 25 years and now, I'm not in a shade.
Their cuts will change my life. From what I look at when I first wake up, to the convenience of a shade over my truck, to the sounds of nature in my yard; nothing will ever be the same, again. A house without trees has no appeal to us. Why would we want to live here without trees or birds? What will our yard be like without deer browsing our cedar? It's one of our morning routines...sitting, drinking coffee, watching the deer and rabbit. But, they're gone, now. Because the tree is dying. They still browsed after it went into shock last time. That was one of the things that kept giving me hope that it would live. This time, I haven't seen deer in a couple of weeks. There is no hope. Not for the tree, not for us. Old people need old trees. We can't start over.
Hopefully, Francis will push the Maple over on my house when she comes through tomorrow. The supervisor at W.A. Kendall said he would buy me a new house if the tree fell within a year.
It ain't right, what they do, and somebody has to stand up and say so. I guess it's gonna be me.