twenty-four

It's that time of year again.

Tree trimming.

No, not the Christmas type.

The Asplundh type of tree trimming.




Sort of like this.

Several years ago Asplundh, who has the contract for line clearing from Allegheny Power, came by and asked me if they could "trim" our maple trees along the road. I said, What for? And they said to protect the lines if the trees fell down in a storm. Well, I have seen their trim jobs along the road, where they top the entire tree to keep it under the power lines, and I said, no thanks. I went out and looked to review where the trees are, and sure enough, the power lines are on the other side of the road from our trees. I couldn't see where our trees could even touch the lines, unless the Jolly Green Giant came along and uprooted the trees, then used them to whack on the power lines.

A few days later an Asplundh supervisor was back, quoting right-of-way clauses in our deed. I told him he was mistaken, and then showed him the recorded deed certified copy, and it doesn't mention Allegheny or Mon Power as it was known then. It only grant US the right-of-way to get to our property, which at that time was just beyond the end of the existing road. Later, they built houses past us and did include giving the water and power companies the right to maintain the lines. But not our deed. Sorry!

And the guy went away, and no one touched our maples.

But every year they are back, like a bad cold, and every year we have to go through the same rigmarole, because it is never the same crew.

I just wish I understood why they want to cut the tops off of trees on the opposite side of the road from the line posts.

Or even better, I wish we could get them to flag our address with a "don't waste your time here" note.

Bumper sticker: " The sooner you give up, the more time you'll have to catch up."