Caution! Tree Work Ahead!

Tree work ahead! What an understatement! Way back in May I had an entry about coming home and there being caution tape along my non-existent sidewalk. For 2 months we have been wondering when they were going to fix the situation. During this time we send in a form to the City of Hanford asking they remove their trees from in front of our yard. Before you think I am a tree hater, hear me out. These huge trees are called liquid amber. The street just advent to our street is named Amber. There were these trees lining the whole street. They are beautiful trees and in the Autumn they are were especially beautiful. They (4 in total) were planted on a boulevard, in front of our home. We do not own the boulevard but are expected to care for it. These trees are were at least 40 years old. They are responsible for many problems with pipes. Several of our neighbors had to tear up their whole yard because of the damage done to their plumbing. I can still remember walking by a home and the owner sitting outside. As we walked by we saw the whole yard tore up along with the house "open". It seemed the house was flooded. It had something to do with the pipes. I remember Gene saying, "what happened here?" and out of the dark came a reply "don't worry, you will be next" and a glowing cherry on the top of a cigarette.

Two months ago our neighbor's pipes were damaged because of the roots which prompted us to put into the city of Hanford a request to remove the trees. We were pretty sure they were not going to comply. Then we heard they were willing to take out 2 but not all 4. Friday, they arrived in full force. To our excitement they decided to take out all 4 at a vote of 4 to 0! Here is a few of the amazing pictures we took.

If you are concerned at all about the trees, look at the one to the right. It has some disease that causes the leaves to turn brown. They fall and generally look horrible. It isn't so bad in the winter, since they all loose their leaves, but as you can see...it looks ugly all summer.


(one reason the air looks so bad is because of the fires that are still making our air quality very bad)


Couldn't resist a learning time for Cecilia. Check out the spray of wood chips. They pretty much put the whole trees into the chipper. I wanted to ask for the wood to burn in our fire place, but decided not to press my luck.

This series of shots is of the last tree. Gene was able to get the whole thing falling. When looking on the computer it looks like a movie. But you get the idea....





One final shot....for those of you whole think we are tree haters. This was the trunk of the final tree. It was almost completely hollow. Could you imagine if that 40 foot tall tree decided to blow over? What a horrible thing that would be.

I'm still in shock! The sidewalk is still not in, but I have great confidence it will be done soon!


Thanks so much City of Hanford. Stayed tuned for sidewalk updates and more great upgrades! BTW, the weird siding above the car is something called barn wood and it is suppose to look like that, but as Marti would say, "that is not important right now"! :D

This makes me angry on several levels.

See how small this is? It is even smaller in person. For YEARS (as long as I can remember, and I have been in this city for 23 years) this notice comes every few months in our water bill. Pretty much it says this:

There is arsenic in your water, but it is OK. No need to buy another water source. We just have to tell you.

We have been drinking Sierra Springs water for years (or another delivered water). I just got this notice again this month. I truly can't believe it. What happens when you have too much arsenic in your blood, body?

Drinking high levels of arsenic increases the chance of lung, bladder, and skin cancers, as well as heart disease, diabetes, and neurological damage. Arsenic inhibits the body's ability to fight off cancer and other diseases.

Where did I get this quote? Click HERE. Am I the only one who cares about this? Why has it been going on for as long as I can remember? And why do I have to pay for it?