The Land


log-on-wire.jpg

Got the story about this bizarre log that has been lodged on this power or telephone line for years. It’s in front of a house that used to be an eyesore before getting a facelift. There was a huge tree next to these lines, and this piece ended up on the wire instead of the tree. New owner Lauren has been trying to get the utility to remove it, but they refuse. They say it’s not hurting anything so they won’t remove it. Well it hurts curb appeal, but I guess it’s nothing compared to those ugly wires and cables and telephone pole sitting right in the middle of his front yard. So that’s what intrigues me…how in the hell did a pole get put in the middle of someone’s yard? It couldn’t have been put between the houses? It’s a matter of a few feet, and would have improved the property values. Any ideas? Just another case of bad development?

It sounded like a great idea — the United Nations Association presenting a speaker from Tree People at Altadena’s own great Coffee Gallery. Unfortunately, the evening was marred by broken technology and the speaker had to read from printouts of her Powerpoint presentation. And more unfortunately, she is apparently rather new with making presentations. For such a great cause , presentations should be dynamic and engaging — give the audience a feeling for what it’s like to plant trees, to be a part of the solution. But planting a tree just for the sake of it, isn’t always the right answer, either. I love trees, but how many wrong choices have been made by city planners, housing tract developers, etc.? In my area, the original developers seemed to have a penchant for planting one tree smack in the middle of the front yard. Trees that eventually grew to enormous proportions and had to be taken out or are still causing problems. I’ll post a few pics shortly. More info on this to come!