Monday, November 02, 2015

Changing focus

Yesterday the chainsaws were quiet. I led Lance up our lane and took this photo of the large swath of trees felled down the middle of the lot:
This morning the chainsaws were whining and the trees were cracking and crashing once again. When I came up from morning barn chores, I could see light coming through the trees beside our garden where I'm not used to seeing light:
That's a fence post on our property line; the trees you can see beyond it were coming down one by one. Rick talked to the loggers' boss today, and got new information. He is not the new owner as we were led to believe; the buyer lives out of state. The workers have been instructed to leave a screen of trees along the north property line which borders the big, fancy winery, but to cut everything else since a vineyard is planned and he wants maximum southern sun exposure. Well, we have a line of evergreens along part of our side of the fence that he can't touch, so we think he might as well leave some trees on his side of our fence. That's not likely to happen, though, so rather than getting ulcers over it, I choose to change my focus. When I walked across our lawn to take the second photo, I realized I was walking through a forest of tiny fungi! Maybe not a suitable replacement for the fallen firs, but cute nonetheless.
I think they like the four inches of rain we've gotten in the last few days.

A favorite focus right now is the color show on display in our island bed.
Oh, that Japanese maple!
Rain or shine, it glows with an inner fire.

That's it for now from . . .

8 comments:

DianeOart said...

So sad they are cutting all the trees. :(

Theresa said...

What a bummer. Made worse by the fact that in all honesty Oregon wine is not all that good. I mean just because you can plant grapes doesn't mean you should. I have long lamented that OR wine is expensive and doesn't begin to rival even a moderately priced bottle of French wine., which BTW is usually snapped up before it hits most of the markets. But that doesn't help you out with your trees does it? Will you be planting a fast growing tree screen?

Florida Farm Girl said...

Oh, dear girl. I applaud your attempt to change your focus. I feel for you all the way across the country.

Tammy said...

I'm so sorry to hear this. I know how awful it is to have these changes to our landscape/life that we can't do a thing about. (Our latest has been chicken houses down the road...out of sight but sometimes not out of smell) I hate to see entire forests logged off. I love quiet and nature and it seems to be rapidly dwindling away. I guess the only plus to a vineyard would be it's not a housing division moving in???? (Trying to be positive but certainly not minimizing the impact for you--I pray you can keep from dwelling on it--I'm a dweller and know how damaging that can be to your health!) Take care,

p.s. I absolutely love your new little furry shadow!
Tammy

Unknown said...

Oh, the Japanese Maple is gorgeous! All will be well.

Thistle Cove Farm said...

Not meaning to be ugly but I'd keep an eye on those loggers. Too frequently, they seem to forget which side of the fence are their trees...I know this from experience.

Anonymous said...

So sad the trees are all coming down for yet another vineyard. It wouldn't be so bad if the sacrifice was for belly-filling food. We hate seeing so much of our wonderful rich soil being covered by vineyards or concert. I echo Thistle Cove Farm's caution; a friend had their fringe of trees cut down by an overzealous crew who didn't bother to pay attention to the strand of barbed-wire.

Michelle said...

Diane, I'm trying to remember that these trees were all planted well after we moved here, but it is hard.

Theresa, we will wait to see what actually happens next door first.

Thank-you, FFG!

Tammy, thanks for the perspective; grapes ARE better than chicken houses. So good to hear from you and know that you are still around blogland!

Love that tree, Nancy Kay.

Thanks for the warning, Sandra and Wanda. We have a woven-wire fence so I think the boundary is very clear; I've been prepared to demand repairs if they drop a tree on it. It really is amazing to me, Wanda, that demand for wine can be that high when a lot of people don't have money for necessities. Maybe they are all self-medicating....