{"id":3170,"date":"2019-06-25T17:04:04","date_gmt":"2019-06-25T21:04:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/?p=3170"},"modified":"2019-06-25T17:08:59","modified_gmt":"2019-06-25T21:08:59","slug":"what-lovely-trees-there-is-a-price-to-pay","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/?p=3170","title":{"rendered":"“What lovely trees?”…”THERE IS A PRICE TO PAY!”"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Begin forwarded message:<\/div>\n


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From: <\/b><\/span>ALAN SKEOCH <alan.skeoch@rogers.com<\/a><\/a>>
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Subject: <\/b><\/span>Trees cut power June 2019<\/b>
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Date: <\/b><\/span>June 25, 2019 at 3:19:33 PM EDT
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To: <\/b><\/span>alan.skeoch@rogers.com<\/a><\/a>
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“WHAT LOVELY TREES!\u201d \u2026 \u201cTHERE IS  A PRICE TO PAY.\u201d<\/div>\n

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alan sketch<\/div>\n
June 2019<\/div>\n

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\u201cWHAM!   SSSST>>>SSSST\u201d<\/div>\n
“What was that\u2026something through the trees\u2026shower of sparks\u2026then silence\u201d<\/div>\n

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I was  just sitting on the pave stone front porch reading The Bishop\u2019s Boy by Lindon Macintyre when<\/div>\n
the BAM and SSSSST happened.   We live in  a  forest\u2026southern Mississauga where once the native<\/div>\n
peoples lived.   A big green space so  obvious from the air.  Huge trees that overhand and hide the houses.<\/div>\n
Trees that suck in the carbon and push out put oxygen.  A kind of Shangri-La.  Were it not for the astronomic<\/div>\n
taxes.   There is  a  price to pay for green space.<\/div>\n


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\u201cPower is gone\u2026tree fell across  the power lines\u2026must be hanging there after severing<\/p><\/div>\n

the main line.  Hung up.  Dead birch.  Big one and others  ready to fall.\u201d<\/div>\n

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Neighbours began to assemble\u2026comments  both comforting and angry.  Some<\/div>\n
knew  the cost of keeping all these trees.  When we bought our lot there were 114<\/div>\n
trees and shrubs\u2026counted them to justify the mortgage.  House cost $28,000.  Did not think about the cost<\/div>\n
should one tree die.  Now, after half a century living here, we know that cost.  Cutting <\/div>\n
down a dead tree costs $1,000 and upwards.  Green space costs money.  Some neighbours<\/div>\n
know that.  Some fear that.  Some curse that and try to surreptitiously cut down trees.<\/div>\n
Most of  us love the trees …  consider the costs just part of doing business.<\/div>\n

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Climate change!  Yow\u2026will it affect our trees?  That mean our oxygen.  Not only losing
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insects, little creatures, fish and bumblebees but also could we lose our trees as the<\/p><\/div>\n

planet heats up.  Got to do something but what?  Try to save the trees, I guess is<\/div>\n
a small step.  \u201cBut the trees  give shelter to that pack of coyotes\u2026they slip around<\/div>\n
looking for cats and little dogs\u2026are the coyotes part of the ecology of our neighbourhood?<\/div>\n
If the trees  go, then so go lots of things\u2026maybe even ourselves.”
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\u201cCall 911\u2026must be a live power line in the branches\u2026dangerous\u2026lethal.\u201d<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cGet a police car here.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cthe 911operator made me wait nearly 10 minutes\u2026so many panic calls for all<\/div>\n
kinds of  reasons.   Wonder how high up the crisis ladder is  a dead tree?”
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\u201cThen the big emergency trucks began assemble.  Huge dinosaurs of the 21s century.
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Neighbours  and dogs admired  and commiserated\u2026\u201dThe owners of the dead<\/p><\/div>\n

birch doesn\u2019t even know what has a happened.  Too dangerous to go down their<\/div>\n
lane.  Are they well? Some think not.”
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\u201cMen no longer climb threes\u2026they have long articulated buckets that reach higher
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than any tree\u2026huge things.
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\u201cHubert, how much does one of those trucks cost?\u201d<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\u201cBetween 250,000 and 500,000 dollars.\u201d<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cHydro rates  are high\u2026going higher and  higher with each truck.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cWhy do  we need  two trucks? \u201c<\/div>\n
\u201cSomething could go wrong I guess.”
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\u201cNo power for blocks and blocks\u2026\u201d<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cInterferes with the BlueJay game\u2026can you get it fixed fast?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cIt will take six hours or more.”
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Reminds  me of two praying mantis creatures sparring for food.<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cSomewhat larger though.”
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Then the next day new trucks arrived\u2026tree specials.
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\u201cHow much is that truck worth?\u201d<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201c$180,000\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cTrees cost big money when they die\u2026going higher and higher.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cIs it necessary to slice up all those healthy trees\u2026like that beautiful oak<\/div>\n
that is only aquaria century old.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cIt will grow back\u2026got to clear the power lines\u2026.Trees  on city land do not need<\/div>\n
permission to slice up.\u201d<\/div>\n

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\u201cWhat about my oxygen supply?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cOxygen?  Are you daft?”
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Then something odd  happened.  One whole house came down the street
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on a huge flatbed truck.   A whole house\u2026about 70 feet long\u2026wood from<\/p><\/div>\n

someone\u2019s  forest has been butchered.  Now dead.<\/div>\n

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\u201cRipping down a house on the next street\u2026chomping it up with an excavator\u2026<\/div>\n
then building a new house.  Happends all the time around here.  Makes no<\/div>\n
sense.
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Cowboys riding high\u2026\u201dYippee Yay Ay, Yi Ay”











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\u201cDo  not worry, the trees will grow back\u2026I guarantee you that.\u201d<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cHope you are right.  Reminds me of something I read long ago and<\/div>\n
would earnestly like to believe.  \u2018WE CAN BUT HOPE THAT SOMEHOW GOOD WILL<\/div>\n
BE THE FINAL GOAL OF ILL.”
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Sent from my iPhone<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n


<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Begin forwarded message: From: ALAN SKEOCH <alan.skeoch@rogers.com> Subject: Trees cut power June 2019 Date: June 25, 2019 at 3:19:33 PM EDT To: alan.skeoch@rogers.com “WHAT LOVELY TREES!\u201d \u2026 \u201cTHERE IS  A PRICE TO PAY.\u201d alan sketch June 2019 \u201cWHAM!   SSSST>>>SSSST\u201d “What was that\u2026something through the trees\u2026shower of sparks\u2026then silence\u201d I was  just sitting on the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3170","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3170","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3170"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3170\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3170"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3170"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3170"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}