Snarl-grind-crash

[altivo]

Lovely weather today, ruined by the continuous snarl and crash of a chain saw next door as the Brit neighbor continues his vendetta against trees, any trees. One could hope that the ents will show up and stop him by any means necessary, but I'm afraid it won't happen.

I'm also afraid he's going to forget where the property line is some day and start in on the ancient oaks that line our side of it. The seeming border between our lands is laid out by a creekbed in the southern half, where he has been "working" lately. But the creek meanders of course, while the property line is straight. At some points, he owns both banks, but for most of the way, we own both banks of the creek. In the woodlot, we own 18 to 24 feet beyond the creek, on his side. I'm sure he has forgotten this.

The man's a fruitcake. He seems to hate all trees. Why he bought five acres of heavily wooded land I just can't imagine. The previous neighbors there had deliberately let it grow up and even planted more undergrowth to encourage wildlife. They had walking paths through it, but beyond that, never disturbed it. Gary says he has some "pioneer" notion that he's supposed to "clear the land" but I really think he's just plain nuts. This afternoon I chased the oldest of his dogs out of our arena, where the irritating beast was digging holes in the floor apparently looking for chipmunks or something.

Spent an irritating hour at Walmart this afternoon. I've been keeping a divided shopping list, with items I know are less expensive at Walmart listed separately for when I get a chance to go there. The store was mobbed. It seemed that every shopper had at least two unhappy kids trailing along. Plus store personnel were doing inventories or something that involved removing every item from the shelf and putting them back. Perhaps they were looking for someone's runaway hamster? ;p The produce department is always frustrating. Generally overpriced, poorly arranged, and not always in the best of condition, most of Walmart's produce may well best be avoided. Their meats are mostly prepared, precooked, ready-to-microwave. Huh? Once again I'm reminded that no one seems to know how to cook any more. They also put meats out in huge packages that may be great for a family of six with teenagers, but are impossible for a childless couple. I was pleased when I noticed that my receipt had a code and URL on it to file your reactions to the shopping trip. Alas, when I went to express my thoughts and opinions, I found that the survey consists of loaded questions that can't be easily answered, and no way to convey my suggestions or concerns. Of course.

Tomorrow, the Freeport Steam & Antique Engine Association show. This year featuring "horse power" (hard to say just what they mean by that) but I want to go see. Hopefull it will not rain.

Comments

[captpackrat.livejournal.com]

Do you have a SuperTarget around there? I was quite astonished to find their prices were actually on par with WalMart AND they usually have much better produce.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

No SuperTarget within any reasonable driving distance. The two regular Targets within 25 miles have only minimal food products. What I'd really like is a Meijers but the nearest one is over 30 miles away.

[jairus-greywolf.livejournal.com]

My neighbors cut down a large tree in their front yard and I have yet to ask them why. The only two explanations I can figure out is a) they are too lazy to rake leaves and b) it was blocking the street light across the street. Personally, I *want* the streetlight to be blocked. I don't think of myself as a treehugger but I do like trees and forests and it bothers me when people cut them down for no apparent reason.

I despise Wal*Marts and I refuse to set paw in them. If I have to pay a few extra bucks to go somewhere else then so be it.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Too lazy to rake leaves is a common reason. The desire for a flat, featureless expanse of grass is another. I understand neither of those.

This guy has at various times expressed what seems to be a neurotic fear that trees "will fall on" his car, house, kids, pets, or whatever and kill them. One tree that he cut fell in his driveway and blocked it for three days before he could get it cut up. Another fell on his house, crushing the porch roof. With luck, one will fall on him soon and put an end to this nonsense. He also has said "trees breed mosquitoes." He's a nut job. After clearing most of the trees out of one area where they did a major job of absorbing spring flood waters, he now has a one acre stagnant pond in that spot each spring. Guess how many mosquitoes it produces...

Yes, I agree with you about Walmart, for many reasons. I resisted them until the crash last fall, but grocery prices around here have skyrocketed since then while our income remains flat. The family owned store in town that we've used for the last ten years is struggling and I still buy some things there, but I can't afford to pay 50% more than a year ago for the same list of items. So far, Walmart has been the only usable alternative. The Jewel in Woodstock is even more expensive than the family store, and though there's an Aldi there as well, it just doesn't have the things I want. The treatment Aldi and Walmart give their employees does not make me happy, and I'm still looking for a better choice.

[marzolan.livejournal.com]

Good fences make good property lines and neighbors.

[equusmaximus.livejournal.com]

Especially if they're electric! ;)

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Generally true, and this has mostly prevented conflict with the "golf course lady" on the other side who hates weeds and mows all of her five acres three times or more a week. (Gods I hate the sound of lawnmowers.) The only problem we have with her is the half dozen aggressive football sized dogs who run barking under the fence every time they see me with a horse in hand. She screams at them to come back, but of course they have no obedience training at all.

The Brit, on the other hoof, has more than once plowed right through our double fences with his tractor, knocking down posts, wires and all.

You may remember that in the Robert Frost poem, "Mending Wall," that has that line "Good fences make good neighbors," Frost said that the pine trees were not going to invade the orchard and eat the apples (nor the apple trees walk under the pines and eat the cones.) We have no fences through the woodlot because it's dense enough to protect that border on its own. Foxes and squirrels and deer come through, but I *like* them. My horses don't like the woods and won't venture in there. The ground is too uneven and the brush too dense for them.

[equusmaximus.livejournal.com]

Sorry to hear that your fruitcake neighbour is also a tree-hater. This is my one complaint about live out here on the prairies; There's a horrible lack of trees out here, save for the shelter-belts. We Unicorn-types really like our forests! ;)

Walmart is never I place that I particularly like to shop at, as it seems that the scenario you described is pretty much Business As Usual there. Some are better than others, but I've been in a couple that just makes your skin crawl with the "urban trash" sort of feeling. :P

Here's hoping the weather holds for you tomorrow; the show sounds like it would be a great deal of fun! I know I'd love to see something like that!

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Plant trees now. Choose varieties that belong in your area, perhaps growing along creek banks or rivers. They grow quickly. Pine and spruce if you are too far north for the quick growing deciduous trees, or catalpa, elm, and willow probably. And try not to plant them in obvious straight rows. :D

Yes, I know that "urban trash" feeling from Walmart. I get it all the time. When you look at the shelves, you know why, too. That's the group to whom they are catering. Processed, prepared food that you eat right out of the package or only have to stuff into a microwave, huge quantities of sugar and grease, etc. This one does have a larger produce section than most, but they obviously don't have real produce managers who know how to rotate stock and display it properly.

If I can borrow Gary's camera, I'll get some photos to share from the show today.

[lobowolf.livejournal.com]

Yep, the guy sounds like a nut. I will admit there are some trees I'd like to get rid of on my property, but I wouldn't clearcut the whole thing.

As to the "irritating hour at Walmart"...is there really any other kind of visit to Walmart? I want to strangle people after I'm in there for 15 minutes. There are a few food items I buy there but I find their prices kind of high (particularly on bread and meat). There's a local chain that's 20% cheaper than anywhere else and runs killer sales, so I do most of my grocery shopping there. Lately, I've noticed Wal-Mart is hiking some of their prices.

Sounds like a good show tomorrow!

[altivo.livejournal.com]

All food stores seem to be hiking their prices. Even when oil prices were declining steeply a year ago, the food prices kept rising. No relief in sight there. I'm curious about this, since farmers in Wisconsin are complaining loudly about the low prices they are getting for milk, pork, etc. I see no reduction at the supermarket at all, so I conclude that someone in the middle is absorbing a huge gain.

Yes, Walmart is irritating for dozens, perhaps hundreds, of reasons. Their stock is badly organized, and poorly refilled. The empty spaces on the shelves right where there should be something I want are always a problem. Their aisles are twice as wide as the other supermarkets, yet they are always blocked with people battling their ill-behaved offspring or even each other.

We have limited options within a reasonable driving range. I miss having a market that really knows produce and features it. The local family owned chain is best for that, but unfortunately very expensive now for the canned and boxed sort of goods. We're struggling to find a workable pattern of "shop here this week, there next week" that keeps costs down. Especially now that it looks like I have to pay double for hay.

[vakkotaur.livejournal.com]

Yes, there are almost restful visits to Wal-Mart... but it has to be at one that's open 24 hours a day, in a location that isn't overly urban, and around 3 AM.

The local Wal-Mart isn't too bad then. But then I've seen soem folks shop late night (or very early morning) at Hy-Vee to do so in relative peace as well.

One bit of interesting pricing here is that of baking soda. The "dollar store" will sell a box for $0.59 (evidently they can no longer do it at $0.50 and have a 2 for $1 thing). The Hy-Vee next door has baking soda for $0.58 and the Wal-Mart across town has it at $0.57. But given the location, layout, and limited selection it's just not worth it to go there for that penny. I have noticed that some Wal-Mart items are higher than other places.

I do find it odd that the Wal-Mart "Great Values" house brand is now packaged in a rather stark white that is very reminiscent of the generic items of the mid-late 1980s.

[atomicat.livejournal.com]

Finding good food to eat was a big problem for me when I was down south, because of the reason you specified.... nothing but rack after rack of processed and frozen shit. I'm forever hearing "I should learn how to cook". Learn what!!! Gods, just tossed some green peppers, onion, 'shrooms & ham into a pan, fried, tossed in some milk, cheese, bit of flour, DONE! What the hell do you even have to learn there.

[schnee.livejournal.com]

What the hell do you even have to learn there.

What ingredients actually go well together, for instance. How many of each you need (this is particularly true for what one might call the "framework" - everything from flour to herbs and spices and so on). What temperature to use. How long to cook things. And so on.

Don't underestimate how difficult even the simplest things can be when you've never learned them. Remember how you learned the different letters of the alphabet in school? It may seem strange that anyone would not know them now, or that it would take months to actually learn them all, but when you're not familiar with something yet, even the easiest things will be difficult, time-consuming and daunting.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

It seems that for most people today, cooking is a total mystery and one they have no interest in approaching.

Yes, the markets have been taken over by processed crap. I've been complaining about this for years. Even the local family owned store devotes more space to frozen pizzas and dinners than it does to flour, sugar, and baking supplies.

[cabcat.livejournal.com]

What a strange person, but he wouldn't be the first nutjob to buy a heavily wooded area and clear it for no apparant reason o.O

Our supermarkets save stocktaking for after closing hours so groups of people can move through the whole store without annoying customers and vice-versa

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Stock used to be handled that way here. Walmart and other big chains now do it while the store is open, though, because they think they save money that way. No keeping the lights on at night, no maintaining security, no paying shift differentials, or whatever. They also do their best to avoid having full time employees, so they can dodge various legal requirements that go into effect for providing benefits and overtime pay.

[schnee.livejournal.com]

Pretty weird - I can see why they'd want to project a positive image, generally speaking, but what use is there in making it difficult or even impossible for those who DO have concerns to voice those? That just seems like a bad business decision.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

The "survey" was probably more aimed at collecting demographic data about shoppers than it was interested in opinions and suggestions.

[doco.livejournal.com]

Ah, that's what I come here for, the ramblings of a crazy old man. :)

Seriously though, while your neighbour may seem a little half-baked, his ongoing deforestation campaign *could* make some sense from a different standpoint. People often have this itch to "throw out the old" when they take over a plot of land and want to leave their mark - the number of trees my parents (and to a lesser extent, the neighbours) have knocked down here is quite large, as my grandparents had a lot of old apple and cherry trees from when this house was originally built, most of them just barely trodding along. Fifteen years later, they were all gone, so was the large woodland area behind our lot, but new trees have sprung up. In fact, just earlier this year my mother had several of the trees she planted in the 80s removed because they were getting too tall again, and planted smaller trees instead that can be kept manageable by way of topiary. It's a constant flow, and your neighbour, as crazy as he may seem, may just be up to that.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Um, no. We've talked to him enough to realize that. He has no interest in or understanding of gardening or landscaping. He's just a neurotic with a fear of tall trees. He obsesses constantly about how they are going to fall on his children or his car.

You have to realize too that this is American farmland, not European style plots that have been tended, replanted, and cultivated for centuries. Just 150 years ago, this was wilderness. The "golf course lady" is doing what you describe, though she's utterly out of place doing it here instead of over in the east end of the county. The Brit has no particular vision or plan. He's just demolishing things for the sake of demolishing them. At the time when he purchased that land, he could have bought any number of places with no trees at all, or only carefully maintained ones, and for the same price. Why did he buy what was in essence a miniature wildlife preserve, almost completely forested, with the intention of clear-cutting it?

I could understand if he was removing the undergrowth in order to restore the proper oak savanna ecology of the area, and that would be quite attractive. But he's been just cutting and burning everything for three years now, with no end in sight. Meanwhile, flood control and drainage in the spring have gone totally awry as a result of his meddling in things about which he doesn't know enough.

[jenwolf.livejournal.com]

Your Brit neighbor reminds me of the trouble my Dad is having with one of his neighbors in central Wisconsin. He is not only cutting down many of the trees on his own property, he's also cutting on the properties surrounding his, including Dad's five acre lot. Dad hasn't actually caught this guy cutting his trees yet, but when he does there will be big trouble.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Yep, I'm afraid it's exactly that sort of thing.

[keeganfox.livejournal.com]

"The man's a fruitcake. He seems to hate all trees. Why he bought five acres of heavily wooded land I just can't imagine."
Sounds a lot like my friend's neighbors in California. They would mow the pasture their horse was in, and I can't make this up, because "it makes the grass grow faster".

[altivo.livejournal.com]

This sounds like a case of instructions passed down verbally without clear understanding. Yes, it is customary to mow pasture land occasionally. No, that doesn't make the grass grow faster. What it does do is remove weeds that the horses won't eat, such as thistle and milkweed, before they get a chance to go to seed and spread. The grass grows back faster than these plants and will help to choke them out if you mow regularly.

[vakkotaur.livejournal.com]

I suspect your neighbors would be horrified (and you would not be, for the most part) at how we treated the acre we lived on through much of the 1970s (1972, I think, to early 1979): Gravel driveway. Worn footpath. No lawn to speak of. Trees only cut if there was some obvious reason (real potential danger - or dead and thus no big deal about using them in the wood stove). Mow? Oh, if the guy who owned the field across the road brought his old lawnmower over for repair, which seemed to happen about once a year, a bit of the grass around the driveway would get mowed. We had a lot of tall wild grass, a good many trees, and even enough raspberry bushes that raspberry shortcake and such happened each year. We also had wildlife. I recall one year the folks carefully parked on side of the driveway... to avoid the killdeer nesting on the other side.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Yes, the neighbors are horrified at our "lackadaisical" attitude toward the suburban mentality. As far as I'm concerned though, this is not suburban. I bought here precisely because it was not suburban. Our land is zoned agricultural, with very few restrictions. If I wanted to keep pigs, I could (boy would they love that I'm sure) though I have no intention of doing so. The golf course lady has several times given our names and number to services like ChemLawn in the hopes that we would subscribe. I think at last she gave up on that and instead has planted a huge hedge of bridal wreath right on the property line to hide our pastures from her offended eyes. We actually have dandelions, milkweed, and thistles. The shame of it. (Not.)

The Brits don't really have such a elevated sense of lawn propriety. They just hate trees for reasons I find incomprehensible, and would prefer to live in the middle of a former cornfield. That's a state they could have easily achieved by buying such a house. There are many around here, but for whatever reason, they bought a house embedded in a wildlife zone instead, and then started trying to remove all the brush and cover.