Well, darn it all!
"Tree people" came down the road hacking away at trees that
(assumedly) posed some kind of hazard. I'm not sure at whose
behest they toiled (town? utilities? cable? phone? (lol) ). They
set up shop right near my mutant maple... cones, workers
milling about looking skyward, the big-bass chipping machinery.
I went out and (half) jokingly asked "how much to deem the
entire tree a hazard? I'll call back in Spring for stump removal".
I got a couple blue collar laughs. And that's all. Up went the cones,
beep-beep-beep went the chipper (backwards) and they made a
giant laughing-stock of next door's pine. Someone is NOT going
to be very happy.
Then they did a procession down the road.
Not even a TWIG removed here.
And, the noise scared Oreo and Sheba out of their hut to under
the deck.