The Arbor Day Foundation is certainly not smiling.

Our Wilson neighbor (as in the neighbor over the fence, but making a Home Improvement reference) came over last night to give us the scoop about taking 7 Locust trees down that are along or on the fence line. He wants to replace the fence (Glory Hallelujah!) and one of the trees was so bad that it broke the fence. It was only holding together by work that Hubs had done and continued to maintain. Goodness knows that the fence guy (real name Brian) wasn't doing anything about it.

Sunshiny and hot as it was, at 7:30 this morning, bucket truck on site, trees started coming down.

At 9:30 AM, Hubs called me on my cell. I was on my way to work. He was so upset. The lady with the lot directly behind us chose to have her big, beautiful and extremely healthy King Crimson cut down.

ARGH!

Our back yard is now completely bathed in sun. It isn't until 3:00 - 4:00 PM that the sun is far enough over that the house casts a shadow over the swing set. At least the trees off to the side gave us a place to have Spike (the resident very large Green Iguana) spend time and not turn into a shrivel of a lizard handbag.

Thank goodness I filled the back beds with dry weather loving perennials.

So, now that all of those trees are gone, my butterfly gardens will be intensely impacted. My butterflies flitted in and out of the trees, on over to the goodies I had waiting for them, then off and on to another tree.

Now, it should be said that Brian did retain the big trees in his yard. The trees that he took out were only those completely necessary, he apologized profusely and they were Locust trees. Those are the weed equivalent to trees. He does still have fairly large Maples.

The King Crimson? Well, what is funny about that story (not funny at all, but hear me as my heart sobs) is that the lady had such bad plumbing issues this past spring, that she had to have her entire front yard dug up. The front yard hasn't been leveled since and I believe that the source of her plumbing issues may be the other King Crimson in front of her house. That one she decided to keep. It was the one off to the side of the double lot that she had that was bothering no one and nothing that she had taken out.

UGH!

So, now I have the lady at the 666 house with the dogs (affectionately known as the Hounds from Hell since they bark incessantly when left outside) who has a straight shot view from her back windows into the back yard and on into my back windows. That would be my studio window (no big thing) and my bedroom window (a potentially big thing.)

Yes, I have a blind.

A bonus to her story and the binoculars that I'm certain that she probably has, is that her Hounds from Hell would seek shelter from the sun under the shade of the King Crimson. Now she has a big blue tarp strung along the front of her dog corral.

Can I tell you how completely attractive that is? No, we don't have some type of neighborhood by-law's to prohibit such ugliness.

Oh, and apparently the owner of the Hounds from Hell had a tree taken out, too.

Are you keeping count? So far, fence guy took out 7. Double lot lady with the non-ailing King Crimson took out one very large tree and Hounds from Hell nosy neighbor took out one. That makes 9 right?

Wrong.

Last week the tree crew spent a couple of days 6 houses down on the other side of the street (yes, the same block), removing 2 overly large White Pines. The gentleman who lived in the home has since passed and I believe that the family is trying to sell the house. In need of renovation inside and out, the two towering White Pines were taken out probably to open up the property. Those were necessary. They were planted far too close to the house, were probably a couple of stories tall and made the house look like a Hot Wheel car was sitting next to them.

Now we're up to 11, right?

Nah.

Add one more to your count. After the 2 White Pines met the chipper of death, 1 house 4 houses down and on the same block took out a traditional pine. There are two traditional pines in their front yard and they completely blocked the house from the street. Considering that our front yards aren't all that large, they were ridiculously large for the space. I believe that it was now considered a security concern (someone could easily hide in there and no one would ever know), so one was taken out. I understand it, but still . . .

Our block's tree death toll for 1 week? 12 trees. We're just a standard city block with standard city lots. That's a whole lot of tree death going on.

We're in mourning.

Roger Cook? Do you need a project for Ask This Old House? If you would be wonderful enough to bring a big ole tree to my house and plant it in my back yard to make up for the tree destruction that my neighborhood has wreaked over the last week, I'll bake you some rockin' brownies and make you a really great dinner! I promise!

Smiles in my day:
- That after all of these years, the man of my life still finds me to be "one hot mama." (His words, not mine.) It makes me giggle, that man of mine.
- I came home after my school board meeting and found K- downstairs organizing her toys in the play area. I should say that she had it a complete disaster and as a result, I took all of her flipped toys and put them into a giant pile in the middle of her area. She was absolutely horrified. I told her that they needed to be tidied and put away properly before she could watch TV again. She's found toys she's forgotten about and is now determined to keep a clean play area. I told her that the yard sale is coming and there are lots of children out there who would love some great toys to play with. She took me completely seriously and that is a very good thing. I helped her start, but she's on the way to getting it all turned around now. Hooray!

Have a shady, tree-filled day!

To find more information out about the Arbor Day Foundation, click here.

ETA:
Hubs said that in the fall, we'll be buying a more mature Sweet Gum (I know, Sissy-- the Sweet Gum fruits can be a killer, but we love the tree!) and lovingly planting it in our back yard. We can't make up for the 12 trees that the neighborhood has taken out, but we'll do what we can.