One Pole Down

The next pole down the utility line from the one next to my driveway is a long way off due to a significant drop in elevation. It is way beyond standard issue pole spacing. That is where the utility's maintenance man said they would stop chopping until November.

I intervened in the nick of time. As of today they have chopped to that pole. I don't know if they started at the bottom and the plan was to only give us a few days notice or if they were starting at the top and headed down. I do know the down part over that top ridge line is seriously down, wickedly down. I wouldn't want to climb up or go down it and certainly not with a chainsaw in hand.

The Tall Flower Meadow was saved. Come November I will have to work on saving baby trees and shrubberies from falling limbs and debris extraction. There will be more discussions with the utility company's maintenance crews. There will be no chop and drop. I have even considered offering myself to work with the crew.

This is the first Angelica gigas to bloom in my part of the meadow. I grew it from seed in a pot then planted it out. The plan is for it to become a self sowing population. Now that it is not in danger of getting squashed, it will have a chance to set seed. They are biennials so it will be two years before I see blooms again in my part of the garden. Hopefully I will see plenty babies next spring.

There is a lot of yellow happening in the meadow right now.

I'll be doing path maintenance over the entire three acres of wild cultivated gardens this weekend before the open garden day next Saturday. That's about all I do to get the garden ready for visitors. There will be no weeding or any other such nonsense.

The next pole down is also pretty much the No Spray beyond here boundary. It is finally turning green after three years. I expect it will get sprayed again shortly now that a fresh chop has been done.

The second pole down is the lazy ass locals toss it over the side garbage dump. I try not to look that far down the line when it is all brown and littered with multi-colored garbage. The very next pull off down the road is also used as a garbage dump. There was a TV parked there this week.

I can see myself down there one snowless winter day bagging it all up. My view is going to be significantly more open and looking at all that garbage will make me nuts.

I like pretty.

Even when it is wild and chaotic.

Last year the Tall Flower Meadow got bent and never stood back up around this time by an act of the wet and wicked heavens. I had to accept that.

I can accept that the utility company has to keep the lines clear. I do enjoy my electricity. It goes out often enough to keep my appreciation fresh. And I'll happily take the extra sun I'll be getting.

I don't have to accept them squashing the Tall Flower Meadow at the peak of perfection. They can just wait and do it at the same time winter starts the natural squashing process.