Butcher Post

After I finally fell asleep at about 5: 30 a.m. I was awakened at 8:20 a.m. by day laborers from the rental house next door who had been unleashed with chain saws. Their job was to cut off all limbs of the pecan tree in this yard that encroached over the property line next door. They were over-enthusiastic to say the least.

Apparently the owner is either readying the two houses on the lot for sale or re-rental. When I moved in,  a nice couple were the tenants for one and a half years, (Note:  gossip starts here) they were kicked out at Christmas, so the landlady's daughter, a porn actress could move into the back house and rent rooms/beds out to girls in that industry.

The daughter installed two sets of bunk beds in each of the two bedrooms and we saw a string of young women staying there on a rotating basis. So there were at least 8 assorted women living there at one time. Men would come and go at all hours and the girls living there often got into screaming matches. That group lasted about ten months. In the last two years the property has had many more tenants, each new arrival comes with hardly any furniture, maybe just a few boxes but only stays a month or so. (End of gossip.) No one in the neighborhood could quite figure it out.

The first thing the workers did a week and a half ago, was to rip out the sweet little picket fence and any plants in the front yard. Next they power washed the whole house including the roof. That was another early a.m. wake up call. After that, a week of painting the interiors began. Since the houses were empty, all the lights in and out were left on 24/7, shining right into my bedroom.

Now they began painting the outside which is what prompted the tree butchering. Heaven help it if a branch or two get in the way of their painting. Below is a not so good photo from last year showing how much shade over the house the tree provided. Everything green is the pecan. The huge branch across the photo belongs to the Live Oak tree in another part of the yard.

What I find so utterly amazing is that in this day of conserving energy, when people are being advised to plant trees to shield their houses from heavy sun, these idiots are essentially stripping most of the shade that the tree affords this house from the West heat and their house from the East sun, although I'm sure the person owning the property could care less. I just went out and took pictures of the mayhem.

After butchering. Where you see blue sky, used to be all green leaves.

Over the years I have noticed when men get their hands on any power tool, they become crazed. It some how raises their testosterone levels and they become super macho brutes, hacking at everything. I have observed this with most of the men who do any kind of "mow and blow" on a daily basis. There is no arborist's art or understanding of plants to their madness, just ugly stumps and leafless shrubs left in their wake.

Tree butcher

During butchering

This has pretty much made up my mind about moving from here before the heavy summer heat arrives. You see, this side of the house faces West and that tree was truly a life saver in the summer since the office has no air conditioning and the unit in the bedroom is so small that it barely keeps the room livable, much less cool. They cut off over half of the foliage and limbs. It was enough to fill one and a half flatbed trucks with side panels. They even cranked up the volume so they could share their Spanish  talk show which blared from the truck parked at the curb with the whole neighborhood. What is it about talk radio? I don't care what language it's in, the announcer always speaks in an annoying monotone voice.

The person who owns this property is apparently anti-foliage. About 2 years after moving here, the tall lovely shade tree in their back yard was hacked down and now all the light from the back house shines in my bedroom. This may not seem like much, but the back porch has a huge light, which the tree blocked.

Yes, I think I have worn out my welcome in this house. Now, just where shall I move? Because if I'm going to move, it's going to be to a state that's less expensive than California. Any suggestions?

Updates:
It's now 2:20 p.m. and one of the butchers is painting the trim on the house but the nozzle is too big so there's a great deal of overspray which is just what the environment needs. (Note:  sarcasm)

3:59 - the sun is dropping in the West so I'm getting a taste of how freakishly hot this room and my bedroom will be in the coming summer. Not a good thing. I may cover the two West windows with foil to reflect some of the heat although that won't help the now totally exposed West wall of the house stay cool.

5:52 - finally silence. Although, I noticed he didn't paint any trim on this side of the house this afternoon, so he's probably saving it for tomorrow a.m.  Oh joy. (Sorry, I know I'm being negative, but it was a very annoying day with these brutish men and chain saw noise.)