Neighbours On The Job

I'm waiting here this morning for the arborist to come take our Manitoba maple down. It's pouring rain out. I phoned the tree company to see if they will still work in the rain. They said yes, they would only cancel if there is lightning. I don't hear or see thunder and lightning yet.

The four neighbours affected by my tree cutting are the neighbours south of us (the Clampetts), the neighbour to the back (Crazy Dog Lady), and the neighbours whose property we must cross to access the extended tree branches (Cool Guy and Suspicious Opportunists).

If our tree falls, it would fall on the Clampetts' extension, and if their son, Burly, is sleeping in his bedroom, the collapse of his house might crush him. They have been very understanding and in fact, gave me the names and phone numbes of several tree service companies to help me get quotes. When I told them about the date scheduled to fell the tree, they said no problem, use their yard as we see fit.

Sure, they have an interest in ensuring safety to their people and property, but they could also have said, too bad, your problem, and if you trespass, we'll call the cops, and if we had gotten to that and required the city to issue forced access, well you know, that's how relations between neighbours deteriorate.

I was most concerned about talking to Crazy Dog Lady. She keeps dogs in the house. The dogs bark constantly. Once, The Man went to talk to her about the barking. She told him to fuck off and slammed the door in his face. I went to Crazy Dog Lady's house twice to talk to her, but each time, only the dogs came to the door with growls and snarls. Was I glad the door between us was locked.

But in the process, I met the other neighbours whose yards the tree cutters will need to cross. Cool Guy was very cool. He said he doesn't own his backyard. In times past, the previous owner of his house and the property next to it had wrangled strange deals at city hall so his backyard was sold off to the house next door.

The house next door is owned by Suspicious Opportunist. True, it's the previous owner that wrangled the purchase of the extra backyard, but this owner is just as opportunistic. I told him we may need to access his yard to cut the tree. He asked if we could cut part of the tree that also extends into his yard. I hadn't noticed this problem before. In fact, this branch also sits on phone wires and will cause bigger problems in a couple of years. I'll do it, but still, I wanted access, now he gets tree time too.

But it's his wife who creeps me out. She snoops around, glaring at us with suspicion every time we're out in the back. When I talked to her husband, she hid behind the laundry line on her balcony, giving us the evil eye, no doubt cursing me under her breath that we've done her wrong because we're the owners of a house that contains a tree that extends into her yard. They are practical Chinese people. I know the type. They want a concrete backyard with no maintenance and they believe trees near a house is the embodiment of evil spirits. Our feng shui practitioner told us that's what the Chinese believe.

Yesterday, still not having made contact with Crazy Dog Lady, I wrote a letter to let her know about our tree activities. To my great surprise, Crazy Dog Lady's daughter-in-law phoned me to thank me for taking action on this and letting them know what was happening. She too had noticed the tree problem and was going to try to contact us. So she was grateful and relieved we were looking after the problem already.

All in all, I am surprised by how cooperative and understanding everyone's been. I guess they all have an interest in keeping their properties safe, especially when I am paying for it. Still, I am glad they have not been obstructionists.

And now, the tree guys have arrived, in the rain. They are going ahead with the job. My god, they are young guys. Four of them. The lithe one in orange gear has climbed up the tree with a chain saw. The Man said they plan to work naked so I should gather all my girlfriends to our house. Ha ha.