Friday, June 7, 2024

Big things came down...trees that is.

 We were told four days ago that they were going to be 'trimming' the three huge trees along the back fence of our complex. Not on our property so they had to make arrangements with the people that live there and the owners of the duplex. 

This was very sad to see but also long time overdue.











On the left is Lemon Scented Eucalyptus (on a bright and sunny day in the past), has to be at least fifty feet tall, it's the one that the Red Shouldered hawks nested in as well as several other birds. Next to that, the short green one is a tree called Melia that has really nice smelling flowers but hooboy does it take over. They have let it grow saplings all along the fence for privacy. The tree on the right is a CA pepper tree. Probably about 30 or 40 feet and almost as wide.  The backyards on that property are maybe fifteen or twenty feet deep. 

They were all completely cut down. They have likely been there as long as he buildings 40+ years and it shows. The eucalyptus was pushing on the fence, so was he Melia and the pepper was just a constant trash heap. Why they took down all of them instead of just trimming the pepper and Melia I don't know.


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yes they were all messy trees and not in good locations but I am really depressed about the displaced birds that nested and roosted in them. There is no other tree in our block as tall as that eucalyptus for the hawks. No tree that is fine textured and willowy like that pepper that the finches and wrens nested in (there are tons of Melia down the street that have been hacked back at least twice. Sorry for the foggy window shot, windows are really overdue for cleaning) .

It smelled nice when they were cutting and chipping but still... such a waste.

Sorry for the 'screen shots'. It took two days for them to hack back that pepper. They took out part of the fence on our side, and a shorter fence that ran perpendicular to the border fence. They came in and weed whacked that area the day before cutting started. That boom picker I think is 50' long and they had it almost at full reach to cut the eucalyptus.

Two residents did not move their cars the day before or early morning so when the trucks rolled in they had to sit RIGHT under our window for at least a half hour or more. Luckily the cars were moved before they started the chipper but it was still very loud. Jon got his bagel and coffee, rolled my chair over to the window and watched the pepper come down. He said it was better than anything on tv at the time.

I've been trying to justify and come to terms with no longer having a lovely green wall outside my window. But then realized I haven't heard as many birds and then I get choked up that my morning bird call alarms aren't there anymore.


I really should have gotten more pictures before but was busy and didn't get a chance. Just really hitting me hard for some reason. I shouldn't get this emotional about it but I guess it's just something I've gotten used to in the last four years hearing the birds and having some vestige of forest outside my window.

The trees didn't shade our side of the fence too much but it had a cooling effect for sure. The two families that live in the duplex are really going to bake this summer. The crew that took down the trees were not up to OSHA code for personal equipment but they cleaned up everything really well. Swept off the roof even though some of it wasn't from the cutting. 

Makes me want to move even more to somewhere that has more trees that don't need to be cut down.

It was the last week of school for the boys too, Thursday was the last day and just in the eight or ten months we've been shuttling them they've grown so much. I think their voices even changed just in the past few weeks. One of them thanked me for picking them up from school when they got out of the car. Knuckleheads.

We were a little better with our food money this month. We didn't need as much because we had so much left over from last month. That's the way it should be. So I made a big jar of salsa, a huge batch of macaroni salad (third time making that, it's delicious!) and first ever chicken strips and a batch of Ranch dressing (from a packet) and a green salad. All absolutely yummy. Making the chicken was an adventure but very tasty, since I seasoned them with my usual spices overnight and then added some salt and pepper to the flour and bread crumbs. It's a do again for sure just extremely messy but easier than I thought it would be despite not having enough counter space. 

Jon.... spent $42 on a package of carne asada meat at Costco. I passed on it but he turned around and put it in the cart. It was an exorbitant amount of money just for meat but we cooked that up yesterday in the oven in four different batches. Limited space in the oven and huge pieces of meat. I added some of my own seasoning to it and another tasty meal with enough leftovers for lunch today. I might put that on a salad with the ranch dressing.

I found out Katie will be moving to the town next to ours, which means she'll only be about ten minutes away instead of twenty or thirty. So hoping that means we get to visit a bit more often. Without needing to use gas for shuttling the boys we'll be staying home much more. Less wear and tear on the car but still haven't been able to manage an oil change. Can barely afford the bills this month and my half tank of gas has to last another three weeks.

Other than that, not much else going on, trees were the big thing this week for us.


 



 



 

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