Friday, August 29, 2014
  Symbolic tree trimming

A few weeks before the '96 icestorm, Avista sent around postcards saying that they were going to do preventive tree maintenance. They didn't get to the prevention, but the icestorm pretty much took down all the tree branches and wires and poles that were susceptible to being taken down by an icestorm. Presto! Announce the job, and Nature does it for you, with a bonus of several days of lost power!

Several months after the icestorm, the prevention (now postvention) finally occurred. Avista crews took down some insignificant trees and brush, including a little 10-foot maple on my lot that wasn't going to touch any wires. They skipped my fruit trees, which were still menacing the wire and had clearly been damaged by the icestorm. (Much later, in 2011, I had all of my trees cut down. Zero problems now.)

= = = = =

A few weeks before this July's superwindstorm, Avista sent around postcards saying that they were going to do preventive tree maintenance. They didn't get to the prevention, but the July superwind took down all the trees and wires and poles that were capable of being taken down. Presto! Announce the job, and Nature does it for you, with a bonus of dozens of squashed houses and several days of lost power!

Today the prevention (now postvention) finally occurred. Expensive Asplundh tree crews, with "on contract to Avista" permanently painted on their trucks, were working down the line in this area. As far as I can tell they didn't cut anything. I didn't hear any chainsaws, didn't see any climbing, and the trees look the same as before. But the crews did run their woodchipper for about 5 minutes in each location, feeding it some small pine branches.

Where did those pine branches come from? The crew didn't cut them here, and the Hank Hill types in this neighborhood don't allow loose branches to sit around.

This seems to be some kind of superstitious ritual, done more to satisfy the stock market than to prevent real damage to real wires.

= = = = =

Few days later, now that I've got time to look around: No. Asplundh didn't just play with symbolic branches. What they did was worse. They cut all the branches on one side of a 60-foot pine next to the wires, thus killing it and guaranteeing that it will fall in a typical windstorm. Really dumb. [I'm not sympathizing with the tree. I have a specific interest in this particular tree. It's the only remaining tree that could possibly hit my house when it falls. The height of the tree and the distance to nearest corner of house appear to be about the same, so it would likely be more of a slap than a crush ... but my estimate could be wrong either way.]

= = = = =

Semi-related. Got monthly Comcast bill today: it shows a month past due, plus the current month. Especially annoying because Comcast was dark for a full week after the superwindstorm in July, so in theory I should pay less, not more.

I've been highly systematic about bill paying for many years now, ever since frugality brought a constant and comfortable surplus. Now I don't need to wait for income. After earlier times of broke desperation, it feels damn good to knock out every bill instantly. Well then, maybe someone stole the check after I sent it? Oooooops. Checkbook shows that I didn't send a check to Comcast last month.

The date would have been right around the superwindstorm, so I must have accidentally tossed the bill in my jangled and overwhelmed condition.
 


<< Home

blogger hit counter
My Photo
Name:
Location: Spokane

The current icon shows Polistra using a Personal Equation Machine.

My graphics products:

Free stuff at ShareCG

And some leftovers here.

ARCHIVES
March 2005 / April 2005 / May 2005 / June 2005 / July 2005 / August 2005 / September 2005 / October 2005 / November 2005 / December 2005 / January 2006 / February 2006 / March 2006 / April 2006 / May 2006 / June 2006 / July 2006 / August 2006 / September 2006 / October 2006 / November 2006 / December 2006 / January 2007 / February 2007 / March 2007 / April 2007 / May 2007 / June 2007 / July 2007 / August 2007 / September 2007 / October 2007 / November 2007 / December 2007 / January 2008 / February 2008 / March 2008 / April 2008 / May 2008 / June 2008 / July 2008 / August 2008 / September 2008 / October 2008 / November 2008 / December 2008 / January 2009 / February 2009 / March 2009 / April 2009 / May 2009 / June 2009 / July 2009 / August 2009 / September 2009 / October 2009 / November 2009 / December 2009 / January 2010 / February 2010 / March 2010 / April 2010 / May 2010 / June 2010 / July 2010 / August 2010 / September 2010 / October 2010 / November 2010 / December 2010 / January 2011 / February 2011 / March 2011 / April 2011 / May 2011 / June 2011 / July 2011 / August 2011 / September 2011 / October 2011 / November 2011 / December 2011 / January 2012 / February 2012 / March 2012 / April 2012 / May 2012 / June 2012 / July 2012 / August 2012 / September 2012 / October 2012 / November 2012 / December 2012 / January 2013 / February 2013 / March 2013 / April 2013 / May 2013 / June 2013 / July 2013 / August 2013 / September 2013 / October 2013 / November 2013 / December 2013 / January 2014 / February 2014 / March 2014 / April 2014 / May 2014 / June 2014 / July 2014 / August 2014 / September 2014 / October 2014 / November 2014 / December 2014 / January 2015 / February 2015 / March 2015 / April 2015 / May 2015 / June 2015 / July 2015 / August 2015 / September 2015 / October 2015 / November 2015 / December 2015 / January 2016 / February 2016 / March 2016 / April 2016 / May 2016 / June 2016 / July 2016 / August 2016 / September 2016 / October 2016 / November 2016 / December 2016 / January 2017 / February 2017 / March 2017 / April 2017 / May 2017 / June 2017 / July 2017 / August 2017 / September 2017 / October 2017 / November 2017 / December 2017 / January 2018 / February 2018 / March 2018 / April 2018 / May 2018 / June 2018 / July 2018 / August 2018 / September 2018 / October 2018 / November 2018 / December 2018 / January 2019 / February 2019 / March 2019 / April 2019 / May 2019 / June 2019 / July 2019 / August 2019 / September 2019 / October 2019 / November 2019 / December 2019 / January 2020 / February 2020 / March 2020 / April 2020 / May 2020 / June 2020 / July 2020 / August 2020 / September 2020 / October 2020 / November 2020 / December 2020 / January 2021 / February 2021 / March 2021 / April 2021 / May 2021 / June 2021 / July 2021 / August 2021 / September 2021 / October 2021 / November 2021 /


Major tags or subjects:

2000 = 1000
Carbon Cult
Carver
Constants and variables
Defensible Cases
Defensible Times
Defensible Spaces
Equipoise
Experiential education
From rights to duties
Grand Blueprint
Metrology
Natural law = Sharia law
Natural law = Soviet law
Shared Lie
Skill-estate
Trinity House
#Whole-of-society

Powered by Blogger