Thursday, May 05, 2005

the surgeons knife

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Before the trees leaf out, you get a chance to view the result of the tree surgeon's knife. County crews work all along the rural roads, trimming trees so that they branches don't interfere with the electric lines. Their job is rated as one of the most dangerous around, right up there with Navy jet pilot. This tree is quite a mild example, as some trees are contorted into unbelievable shapes. On the right is yet another crumbling farm outbuilding. The signs on the right are not election signs, but advertising for new home builders - "Big Homes - Less Money"...something like that. As you see, we're 4 miles from Hampshire and 12 miles from Genoa. From our place, we're 9 miles to anything....food, gas, school, work.

6 comments:

sugarcreekfarm said...

My husband is a power lineman, so he does a lot of this kind of tree work. Except he works in town, which is even scarier because you have to drop those limbs - and sometimes entire trees - around houses and people and cars. Cool pic.

g said...

When I was in the real estate dev. biz, I remember a presentation by a tree surgeon (who was trying to get us to pay him thousands to move big trees). His slide show had about 20 similar shots (and much, much worse) of butchered trees. Sad. Amazing that they still grow, however!

Suzanne said...

The bottom line is that Mother Nature and trees are alot tougher than we give them credit for. I remember reading that scientists were amazed when they returned to Mt. St. Helens a year after the explosion and found things growing amid all the devastation. I said to myself...."Duh".
- Suzanne

Anonymous said...

this is a great pic - really evocative - you could have fun for hours trying to come up with captions for it

dysopath said...

That is terrible. They should not be allowed to get away with that. They should have crown reduced (take a certain amount from top and shape off) then it would stay the correct shape. Good job its not in the UK, the forestry commission would have a field day.

Anonymous said...

forestey commision dont really get a word in when it comes to power lines