My neighbor called me on Thursday night to give me an advance warning (knowing that I work from home and do not regularly venture down the road) as he noticed the brusher parked in the driveway on the property that was just sold on the other side of me. The new owners told my neighbor that they were planning to do 'a little thinning out of the cedar where it encroached on the field' toward my house.
By the time I got home from swimming on Friday morning, the Detroit Diesel was fired up and clearing within feet of the property line. I guess by 'clearing a few of the cedars' they really meant- the cedar, the beautiful stand of birch, the hemlock, the maple, the oak, the chesnut and anything growing that provided a nice buffer between the direction our house faces and the road. I generally like to see big equipment operate, but the rate at which this one ate away all that forest was incredibly sad. Another neighbor across the street came over soon after I got home (said he heard the commotion and thought that I was under seige- wanted to know if I needed a hand beating back the invaders) and after talking for a couple of minutes all he could do was stare at the destruction and shake his head. He and his wife were talking with a third neighbor later on that day and like most people around here they are also not fond of people who come in and just start smashing. People here integrate with the community, and don't try to make the community conform to them as they tend to quickly learn that it is a losing proposition.
After Mrs. CTLP got home from work (after enduring my mid-day half hour full on rant where I voiced my opinion that we should move if they clear down to the road) we took a walk to survey the damage:
Mrs. CTLP voiced her displeasure over our new found 'view':
On our way back home, I noticed that in order to pluck one offending pair of birch trees, they managed to run over what might be one of the outer grave markers in the historical cemetary between our property. Real classy.
So now from our front porch you can watch (and as a bonus clearly hear) the cars going up and down our road. As soon as they manage to chip and clear all of the trees they destroyed it will be even more clear- but by that time some of the leaves from the trees that are on our property will have leaves on them and hopefully provide us partial screening for at least half of the year.
It has taken me a little while to cool off some, but all day today while I was working around the house I had to hear them knocking down more trees and stripping the dead branches off of the remaining cedar. Pisses me off royally that they did not even extend the common courtesy to talk with us first and take the time to consider the impact this would have on their new neighbor. Granted, this probably seems quite overblown to most due in part to my obsessiveness and the relative space that I still enjoy. Besides- what right do I have to say what should or should not be done with property that someone else bought and pay taxes on? For all I know- they are clearing that area out and are going to replace it with a fast growing evergreen screen and all this stress will be for somewhat mitigated. It would be one thing if they wanted to reclaim the field to cultivate it again- that I could get behind and would understand. But apparently all they have plans for is subdividing and putting up another house. So right now all I have is utter disappointment. If there is one thing that I can not abide it is people that decide they want to 'move to the country' then proceed to try and make it look like the suburbs, then get the heebie-jeebies when a cricket chirps and leave town. If you want to move to the country- LEAVE IT NATURAL. When you develop the country- it is no longer... the country... Pretty f'n simple.
One bonus to this, though Sleepy- the deer will be much less likely to bed down in the field, and I hope that translates into less deer trying to take out my car in my driveway at 3:30 in the morning...
4 comments:
My boss lives in the country, similar to the Crayon's ranch. He is cutting down tree and such. He claims he likes to live in the country, not in the woods. I understand a few trees, but to clear cut everything!
His wife is from Long Island. She used to work in the city and take the subway home every night no problem. Now she lives in the middle of the country and is scared to be home alone. Go figure....
I live in the country, not quite as country as the beer-muda triangle, but it's definitely not suburbia. We had a bear take down some bird feeders last week. Anyways, a neighbor, a couple houses down, they moved in about six months ago. Every outside light is on every night, all night. All the porch lights, spot lights on the driveway, everything. I'm just glad they aren't right next door. I have a feeling they moved out from the city, and are now scared of the crazy, toothless locals. Fine, leave lights on if you're out so the bears don't get you, but come on.
The cutting continues. They have been at it all morning- looks like a new driveway has been cut in and they only left a couple of trees on the road on the far end, I am hoping that is not the plan for our side.
If you have all the lights on you miss the clear sky above you- that makes no sense to me, either...
W
T
F
i don't even know what to say... That is the saddest thing i've seen in a while.
i'd be having a panic attack.
i'm going outside now to spend some qt with my trees. i swear i'm part druid.
-40
Oh- it got much worse today. Much worse. They fired the Diesel back up again and started stripping more trees out. Funny thing is- one of the things that bothered me most was a tree that provides no discernable benefit for me. On the corner of their barn are a couple of VERY large, VERY old chesnut trees. Actually- they were a bit of a bother to me this past year as the squirrels kept bringing the chesnuts to our yard and shucking them on my grass/moss/weeds. I don't have a lush lawn, but I am particular and spent way too much time picking up squirrel nuts (*snicker*!!!) and throwing them in the woods.
Anyway- I spent a large part of my day today staring down the operator waiting for him to turn off the machine so I could find out how much more he was contracted to destroy- and make sure that in order to take the last two pine trees by the cemetery he would have to go through me first.
So I am sitting there, watching him take out the last two huge old pines in the field when suddenly he turns, grasps this huge chesnut tree and cuts it off 15 feet in the air- then unceremoniously drops it in the field. I had some choice yelling to do about that- WTF would they want that gone? That tree was probably there for the last couple hundred years- when they cleared the land for fields it was one of the ones along the stone wall that they people who settled here left because they recognized the use and venerability of that tree. In summation- there was NO FREAKING REASON to cut it down.
Also new- there is now a driveway sized path cut down to the road probably about 100 feet from my driveway, and I have a sneaking suspicion that he might be trying to turn and burn three lots out of this property before anyone can complain- at least that is what someone in the planning/zoning office thinks (no plans or anything submitted yet). So- I have now entered passive agressive mode and have asked the planning board to review whether or not a driveway can be cut through the stone wall that lines the road and is listed on the National Historic Register (thanks for the info, GUDG!).
My blood pressure is through the roof right now... But the support and frustration of others in the neighborhood has been helpful as it makes me think I am not so much of a whack-job.
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