They're cutting down trees. Not nuisance weed trees that have sprung up uninvited, but huge ancient eucalyptuses with trunks the diameter of a full harvest moon. Well, maybe not ancient since the eucalyptus does have a propensity for quick growth, but with trunks that size they're at least pretty damned old. Their trunks wore the pealing bark that is common to their species, but they were gently twisted; looking rather like giant natural barber poles. Do they grow that way naturally or did the Santa Anna’s twirl them that way over time?
This is California so you know that these trees are being sacrificed to the god of road widening. Heaven forbid they should jog the road to the left for a quarter mile and then back straight. Nothing, damn it, stands in the way of progress.
On the way out to drop Aidric off at school we were stopped by the traffic crew as only one lane was open and traffic was taking turns using it. I saw the big giant aerial truck and the chipper and other assorted machinery, but thought that ComEd was just performing some tree trimming to keep the power lines clear and safe. (as eucalypti also have a propensity for losing good stout branches in a strong Santa Anna.) On the way to pick Aidric up however, I saw the stripped bare carcasses of the first 3, of the 10 or so, trees lying on the side of the road. All of their branches and smaller bits having been fed to the chipper and the massive 30 or 40 foot trunks laid out and cut into 4 or 5 foot length. Their elephantine diameters preventing them from being casually tossed into the chipper, these pieces were being loaded into dump trucks to be shipped…where? Is there a gargantuan chipper somewhere?
It’s too sad, by the end of the week that shady quarter mile will be glaring and naked in the sun and that lovely stretch of road will look like city instead of bucolic country side.
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Saturday, February 07, 2009
The cost of living hasn't affected its popularity
Who says it never rains in So Cal? It does rain here, just once or twice a year and then it rains with a vengeance. We've had three solid days of rain. So far our winter rains have provided us with 2.5 inches of landscape saving moisture. The downpours can cause some problems though. The other day, the first day of the storms, I was driving through Malibu on PCH behind two snow plows. No, it wasn't snowing, but the area is prone to rock and mud slides that often close the highway. So I guess they weren't snow plows so much as mud and rock and flood water plows.
The one thing that IS true is that Angelinos can't drive in the rain which is why I was on the 1 and not the 405. The 10, the 405 the 101 and many other freeways and surface streets were virtual parking lots due to accidents . In all fairness it's not really poor driving skills that cause these accidents, or rather not primarily poor driving skills. The fact is that it rains so little that rubber, and oil and other substances accumulate on the roadways during the dry seasons to such a degree that the first few hours of rain can't really get them all washed off. Combined with rain water these substances turn into the So Cal version of black ice. Then moronic drivers, forgetting that they don't know how to drive in rain, drive too fast and try to stop too suddenly and end up upside down on the concrete center divider, causing the rest of us to curse them. Yes, it's cruel and vindictive and bad karma to curse the injured, but when it's taken you an hour and a half to travel the half mile to your escape route, you tend to lose all perspective.
Along with the rain the temperatures have dropped into the 50's (brrrrr) and I forgot that I'd left my coat at the cleaners. I dropped it off over a month ago when the temperatures had sored into the 80's and I was sure that spring had sprung early. Now I'm going to have to pick up the coat to wear and then have it cleaned again in a week when it warms back up. Life in Cali just sucks doesn't it?
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In other news my friend Maggie is getting married in Toulouse and Sean and I are going out for the wedding. We've had thousands and thousands of airline miles burning wholes in our pockets for two years now, and just as they're set to expire we were given the perfect excuse to use them. Funny how these things always work out.
We will be there only a week and we are like kids in a candy store trying to cram as much into that short week as possible. We've got lists and maps and stuff piling up on the dining table to take with us and the trip is a month away. We're not at all excited about going back to France.
We've got lists of places to go, lists of what to take, lists of what to bring back, lists of people to visit and a list of lists to keep it all straight...
The one thing that IS true is that Angelinos can't drive in the rain which is why I was on the 1 and not the 405. The 10, the 405 the 101 and many other freeways and surface streets were virtual parking lots due to accidents . In all fairness it's not really poor driving skills that cause these accidents, or rather not primarily poor driving skills. The fact is that it rains so little that rubber, and oil and other substances accumulate on the roadways during the dry seasons to such a degree that the first few hours of rain can't really get them all washed off. Combined with rain water these substances turn into the So Cal version of black ice. Then moronic drivers, forgetting that they don't know how to drive in rain, drive too fast and try to stop too suddenly and end up upside down on the concrete center divider, causing the rest of us to curse them. Yes, it's cruel and vindictive and bad karma to curse the injured, but when it's taken you an hour and a half to travel the half mile to your escape route, you tend to lose all perspective.
Along with the rain the temperatures have dropped into the 50's (brrrrr) and I forgot that I'd left my coat at the cleaners. I dropped it off over a month ago when the temperatures had sored into the 80's and I was sure that spring had sprung early. Now I'm going to have to pick up the coat to wear and then have it cleaned again in a week when it warms back up. Life in Cali just sucks doesn't it?
..............................
In other news my friend Maggie is getting married in Toulouse and Sean and I are going out for the wedding. We've had thousands and thousands of airline miles burning wholes in our pockets for two years now, and just as they're set to expire we were given the perfect excuse to use them. Funny how these things always work out.
We will be there only a week and we are like kids in a candy store trying to cram as much into that short week as possible. We've got lists and maps and stuff piling up on the dining table to take with us and the trip is a month away. We're not at all excited about going back to France.
We've got lists of places to go, lists of what to take, lists of what to bring back, lists of people to visit and a list of lists to keep it all straight...
Sunday, February 01, 2009
And Finally
Before we left for France I tried to get everyone to come and take away as many plants as they wanted. Oh that garden was so beautiful, how I miss my giant hostas and all of those tulips and the dozens of different colored day lillies and... Ah, well... Some of my 'Agency' friends decided to take me up on the offer of free plants...
..............................
I’m giving away some of my garden plants to good homes. Three gardeners expressed an interest in taking in some of my orphans and we agreed on 5 pm on Saturday for a good time to get together in my yard and start digging.
E showed up in her Honda wearing espadrilles. P showed up with the family station wagon, a shovel, tennis shoes and a few pots. G showed up with the Expedition with the seats folded down, a tarp covering the entire area, about 8 five gallon paint buckets, a shovel, wearing hiking boots, garden gloves and her hair pulled back.
E wanted a clump of ornamental grass and maybe a few daylilies. She went over to the grass she wanted, pointed it out to me and half heartedly tried to dig it up. “I think I wore the wrong shoes for the job” she says with a girly self deprecating laugh. (Not fooling me a bit.)
P goes right to the back garden and timidly points to a hosta she likes and asks if she can have that one. “Yes of course, take it, no one will remember to water anything here” I say. “It’ll just die” She digs in and I help her hold leaves out of the way while she digs around it.
E comes along to the back having given up digging up the grass, since I wasn’t going to help her with it. (Do it for her more like) “Oh what a beautiful garden you have, it must take a lot of work.” I assure her it does and she wanders around aimlessly. Finally she stops in front of a clump of daylilies, “Can I take some of these?” “Sure help yourself”. She digs around the clump a bit a finally manages to dig up a small clump that I assure you will not live.
P meanwhile has dug up and potted her hosta. “Can I have that one?” “Sure go ahead” She gets to work. Digging and potting.
E takes her one potted daylily out to her car chit chats a bit and leaves.
G meanwhile has decided what she wants, developed a color scheme and started digging. This girl was stamping down on the back of her shovel and making neat slices in the soil cutting a nice wide circle around each clump. She dug up three coordinating colors of daylilies, a black eyed susan, a purple coneflower and three different colors of phlox. She worked hard, potted her stuff, loaded her truck no fuss no muss. She was serious, not shy and willing to do the work.
I was quite impressed by G overall, P was just too timid even after I assured her that that’s what she was there for. E, well, E was useless and I wanted to just shoot her.
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The Story of Three Little Gardeners - posted on July 26, 2003
I’m giving away some of my garden plants to good homes. Three gardeners expressed an interest in taking in some of my orphans and we agreed on 5 pm on Saturday for a good time to get together in my yard and start digging.
E showed up in her Honda wearing espadrilles. P showed up with the family station wagon, a shovel, tennis shoes and a few pots. G showed up with the Expedition with the seats folded down, a tarp covering the entire area, about 8 five gallon paint buckets, a shovel, wearing hiking boots, garden gloves and her hair pulled back.
E wanted a clump of ornamental grass and maybe a few daylilies. She went over to the grass she wanted, pointed it out to me and half heartedly tried to dig it up. “I think I wore the wrong shoes for the job” she says with a girly self deprecating laugh. (Not fooling me a bit.)
P goes right to the back garden and timidly points to a hosta she likes and asks if she can have that one. “Yes of course, take it, no one will remember to water anything here” I say. “It’ll just die” She digs in and I help her hold leaves out of the way while she digs around it.
E comes along to the back having given up digging up the grass, since I wasn’t going to help her with it. (Do it for her more like) “Oh what a beautiful garden you have, it must take a lot of work.” I assure her it does and she wanders around aimlessly. Finally she stops in front of a clump of daylilies, “Can I take some of these?” “Sure help yourself”. She digs around the clump a bit a finally manages to dig up a small clump that I assure you will not live.
P meanwhile has dug up and potted her hosta. “Can I have that one?” “Sure go ahead” She gets to work. Digging and potting.
E takes her one potted daylily out to her car chit chats a bit and leaves.
G meanwhile has decided what she wants, developed a color scheme and started digging. This girl was stamping down on the back of her shovel and making neat slices in the soil cutting a nice wide circle around each clump. She dug up three coordinating colors of daylilies, a black eyed susan, a purple coneflower and three different colors of phlox. She worked hard, potted her stuff, loaded her truck no fuss no muss. She was serious, not shy and willing to do the work.
I was quite impressed by G overall, P was just too timid even after I assured her that that’s what she was there for. E, well, E was useless and I wanted to just shoot her.
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