Maples Trimmed

  It was a cold (35°) morning with a light snow falling but Joe's Tree Service arrived on schedule about  9:30 am to trim the two maples nearest the house. The one on the south side has a number of dead limbs. In fact, Dave Clopper (the tree service's owner) said the tree's heartwood looks dead and may have been hit by lightning at some point in the past. There was enough dead lumber up in that tree that I worried every time the wind blew. And when we pulled out of the driveway in our cars or walked beneath it when mowing, I was always careful to listen for any unusual rustle

 The other maple is at the northwest corner of the house and it shades the kitchen and holds a myriad of birdhouses and feeders. I've noticed the eastern side is drying and asked Dave to trim any suspect branches.

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 One of our security cameras watched the two trucks arrive. One is a bucket truck, the other a chipper/shredder. Dave immediately started trimming the south tree while a young man dragged branches to the chipper in the driveway.

 Dave then moved his boom truck to the garage apron and began trimming the tree by the kitchen.

 A bit later we heard a terrible crash and I found a limb had fallen and hit the north dining room window and shattered the storm window and slightly damaged the screen. Dave cleaned up the glass and said he'd take the frames to the hardware store, have them repaired and return with them soon.

 Here's how the maple by the driveway looks after trimming. I'm happy with the result and hope we can get a few more years out of it.

Orange Flags Point to What?

  We've begun seeing little orange flags all over the township. I know they're marking telephone and power lines. But they also point towards a future something ...

11-14-24

11-14-24

 These flags run diagonally from the power pole at the southeastern edge of our property towards our electrical meter box.

11-15-24

 The company noted on the truck is USIC.

11-15-24

 Whatever they're doing, it'll come very close to my mailbox.

12-06-24

 Now large spools of orange conduit have been placed along various roads. This is just south of Hemple Road on the west side of Clayton Road, about 0.3 miles north of Pinehaven. Work will apparently begin soon.

12-06-24

12-10-24

 This morning I heard an engine running and walked out to see what was going on. There's a trencher just north of my property and moving slowly south. One man is on the machine; another is on foot. The orange conduit is being buried.

 I asked the one man what company they were working for and he said this is for Spectrum Cable. He also said they'd be hooking up customers "in about two months".

 

12-10-24

 And now the trencher is coming across the eastern edge of my property.

12-10-24

 And it's directly in front of my house ...

12-10-24

They cut the conduit near my north catalpa tree. It's a cool (46° at 2 pm) and rainy day so they placed duct tape over the end (it's 1.5" in diameter) after pushing a white cord down inside. That, by the way, is how the fiber optic cable is pulled through all the plastic tubing.

12-10-24

 And now they're south of my property trenching across Millie's. They skipped a large area from the north catalpa to here. How will they get beneath my driveway? And how will they get beneath Hemple Road to my north?  It'll be fascinating to see how this is done.

12/14/24: A new mark was added to the road yesterday. This is at the southeast edge of my property adjacent to Millie's lane.

 And this one has been near Millie's mailbox for a couple of weeks or so. 

12/17/24: The crews were back today and completed burying  the conduit along the front of my property. They then installed a box at the edge of my neighbor's property and continued laying  the fiber to Jeff's.

 Laying the conduit at the front of my property. Two pieces of fiber were joined here and a box buried just to the left of the northmost catalpa.

 These  plastic pieces were dropped off just to my south.

 And here they are being installed during the late afternoon.

 When all the workers left I walked out to see how the box looks close-up. I assume this is where individual feeds will go to subscribers.

 That's it for my area at the moment. I'll post more if something interesting happens.