PG&E has been here again, wanting to take out more trees.  We know they have to keep the power lines clear, but it’s hard to lose trees.  PG&E wants to remove the last of the old eucalyptus, and kill the stumps that have been resprouting.  They also want to take out the huge mulberry that everyone parks under.

We think we have saved the mulberry for another year, at the price of the eucalyptus.  It’ll get its yearly flattop haircut, but it’ll still give shade for everyone. 

As big as it is, it’s hard to remember that it’s less than forty years old.  Billy and I have been married forty years in July.  Before the mulberry, we planted a pine in the same spot, but it didn’t do well, and died within a few years.  The mulberry, then, may be no more than thirty years old; but it’s a big, shady tree.  I suppose they’ll get it taken out eventually, but we’ll get one more year — I hope.

We value every single tree we have, but most especially those that are big enough to shade us and the horses from the Bakersfield sun.  The horses — these belonging to boarders Fred and Wendy — really appreciate it, as you see below.  This cottonwood is really old.  I believe it’s a survivor from the days before the Isabella dam.  There are only a few of these old-timers left on the property.

Luckily none of them are under the big power line, so they’re safe. 

I hope.