Neighbour's tree question

[Hoss]

Nothing wrong with OKC, I think it's a fine city- Anyoo, The problem is people plant trees close to a house (useually when the home is new) and then they don't take care of them or trim them back now & then  they just let the tree grow & grow, and then they move and the next home owner is stuck with a huge tree and big branchs hanging over his roof. People cut their grass on a reg. basis, they need to also trim back their trees on a regular basis too... Trees can grow back cut  branchs at a fast rate. If people would trim their trees then it would not be such a problem. Drive around any neighborhood and you'll see many big trees next to a house. After every storm  the biggest mess is always caused by- all together now gang- "Trees taking a tumble or falling branchs"... That's not just in Tulsa but every city. Ice storms bring down trees all over a city and emergency vehicles can't get thru, cars are crushed or damaged, homes ruined, and power lines brought down by trees.

Guess you had to find a library open past 5....

[dbacks fan]

Guess you had to find a library open past 5....

No, the sanitarium changed the hours he can go of premise.

[waterboy]

Sauer, you're lucky RM is sick right now. At least he'll get better.

Why stop with trees? Bushes do the same thing as trees. Crepe Myrtle? They get big too. Dang birds and squirrels eat my garden, they must go too. Fertilizing grass causes it to grow, which causes you to mow, which causes air pollution. The runoff from the fertilized yard goes into the storm drains causing excess phosphate buildup in the river causing algae blooms and killing the fish as well. Nature is such a biotch! We should simply concrete the yards and paint them green. Use plastic palm trees with little twinkly lights for shade and oh yes,...kill all the geese by the river trails cause they surely make it hard for you to dodge their little piles of green, slippery droppings.

Its all so clear now.

[heironymouspasparagus]

Uh, guys... trees SHOULD grow in forests!  Otherwise, they aren't forests, they are fields.

And yes, trees belong in the landscape, too.  Great things to have.  Away from the house footing.

[sauerkraut]

Sauer, you're lucky RM is sick right now. At least he'll get better.

Why stop with trees? Bushes do the same thing as trees. Crepe Myrtle? They get big too. Dang birds and squirrels eat my garden, they must go too. Fertilizing grass causes it to grow, which causes you to mow, which causes air pollution. The runoff from the fertilized yard goes into the storm drains causing excess phosphate buildup in the river causing algae blooms and killing the fish as well. Nature is such a biotch! We should simply concrete the yards and paint them green. Use plastic palm trees with little twinkly lights for shade and oh yes,...kill all the geese by the river trails cause they surely make it hard for you to dodge their little piles of green, slippery droppings.

Its all so clear now.

I have not heard of too many bushes falling on homes & power lines after a ice or wind storm, maybe that's why. It's your home if you want a big tree next to your home cracking your foundation or dropping branchs on your roof at every storm go for it, I'd rather spend my money on other things besides fixing home damage.

[Hoss]

I have not heard of too many bushes falling on homes & power lines after a ice or wind storm, maybe that's why. It's your home if you want a big tree next to your home cracking your foundation or dropping branchs on your roof at every storm go for it, I'd rather spend my money on other things besides fixing home damage.

How about a gas guzzler engine for your '75 Marquis?

[sauerkraut]

How about a gas guzzler engine for your '75 Marquis?

Yeah it drank alot of fuel,  but gas was cheaper back then,  under $1.00 a gallon- it had a 2 barrel carb.

[waterboy]

I think you'd be more at home in the frozen tundra of Alaska. You and Sarah. Maybe she'll get you her old job when she becomes president.

Look, no one who knows anything about landscaping, plants a huge tree next to their foundation. It usually happens through years of lack of landscape maintenance because of absentee landlords or poverty. So that is a non issue. Once they are there and full grown, they are expensive to take out so many people opt to work around them. I think that is a mistake, but if you don't have the money or the skills to remove them it is just going to happen. BTW, the crepe myrtle in my back yard was nearly 20ft tall until one of our notorious ice storms felled it and it took out our phone line. Had it been near the house it no doubt would have caused more damage. It is not a tree per se, but a bush. Bushes also send deep tap roots that attack sewer lines.

When I moved into my home, the landscaping had suffered years of neglect. I turned that around but some of the trees that were growing over the sewer lines were quite large and would have caused more expense to remove than the occasional roto-rooter job to clean the lines (cost to remove tree > $5000. cost to roto rooter every two years =$300 yr-or a break even at about 15 years in constant $). It also would have caused me higher utility bills and a lower property value. My neighbor who also benefits from their shade begged me to not remove them. My insurance agent never asked me if I had trees so I would gather it is figured as a cost of overhead.  

So, you'd rather live in a neighborhood with no trees? You would have loved early Tulsa. It had few trees except around the river and they used those up quickly for heating and construction. The new wealth started the tree growth in Tulsa that differentiates us from OKC.

Balance my friend. Balance in all things.

[Hoss]

Yeah it drank alot of fuel,  but gas was cheaper back then,  under $1.00 a gallon- it had a 2 barrel carb.

But we're not talking about then; we're talking about now.

Wow!  You cannot be for real.

[sauerkraut]

But we're not talking about then; we're talking about now.

Wow!  You cannot be for real.

I was talking about back then, back in that cars time, back in the world of 30 years ago.. None the less the same idea applies today  just make it a 1998 Mercury Marquis and apply it to todays standards.. That '75 Merc is no longer here it has long since gone to that big scrap heap in the sky.

[heironymouspasparagus]

1975 Merc Grand Marquis had a 460 cu. in. engine with 4 barrel, just like the Lincoln Continental.  Got 6 mpg - just like the Continental.  How do I know?  Because I had several friends who drove them.  I drove one for a while, then stopped as gas went from 0.55 gallon to about $1.00.  I got to work on the friends cars, too. 

[sauerkraut]

1975 Merc Grand Marquis had a 460 cu. in. engine with 4 barrel, just like the Lincoln Continental.  Got 6 mpg - just like the Continental.  How do I know?  Because I had several friends who drove them.  I drove one for a while, then stopped as gas went from 0.55 gallon to about $1.00.  I got to work on the friends cars, too.  

We had the 1975 Marquis with the 400, the 460 was a option, ours had the two barrel carb. The big 460 may have been standard in the Grand Marquis & Lincoln. Ours was a  white, 4-door  with green vinyl seats. It was my dads pride & joy, he paid $4,600 dollars for it I believe he bought it in April, 1975. My dad died and my mother gave it to me and she bought a smaller car. BTW Ford had a real nifty  ext. Green  color in the mid-1970's they called it "Jade" green I think they only used it on certain models like the Mark IV & Lincoln. Speaking of Ford, I  liked the design of the mid-70's Mercury Cougars with that sleek rear roof panel, another car I like alot back then was the Dodge Chargers from 1972-1976 with that long front hood & wrap around front bumper. There were some good looking cars back then. Today alot of cars look alike.

[Hoss]

We had the 1975 Marquis with the 400, the 460 was a option, ours had the two barrel carb. The big 460 may have been standard in the Grand Marquis & Lincoln. Ours was a  white, 4-door  with green vinyl seats. It was my dads pride & joy, he paid $4,600 dollars for it I believe he bought it in April, 1975. My dad died and my mother gave it to me and she bought a smaller car. BTW Ford had a real nifty  ext. Green  color in the mid-1970's they called it "Jade" green I think they only used it on certain models like the Mark IV & Lincoln. Speaking of Ford, I  liked the design of the mid-70's Mercury Cougars with that sleek rear roof panel, another car I like alot back then was the Dodge Chargers from 1972-1976 with that long front hood & wrap around front bumper. There were some good looking cars back then. Today alot of cars look alike.

OK, 6 mpg vs 9 mpg.

My 2.7l V6 gets 23 mpg average; I do about 50/50 highway/city driving.  It's also a 'FlexFuel' vehicle.  Although I've never ran E85 in it.

Oh, and if you think cars look alike today, you may want to visit your ophthalmologist and see if you have cataracts...

[sauerkraut]

OK, 6 mpg vs 9 mpg.

My 2.7l V6 gets 23 mpg average; I do about 50/50 highway/city driving.  It's also a 'FlexFuel' vehicle.  Although I've never ran E85 in it.

Oh, and if you think cars look alike today, you may want to visit your ophthalmologist and see if you have cataracts...

Flex fuel is not that great since Ethonal has less bang per gallon than gasoline, sure it's cheaper, but your gas mileage drops too. What I'd like to see is natural gas vehicles, it burns clean and has more power than gasoline.

[Hoss]

Flex fuel is not that great since Ethonal has less bang per gallon than gasoline, sure it's cheaper, but your gas mileage drops too. What I'd like to see is natural gas vehicles, it's cheap, burns clean and has more power than gasoline.

If you're buying gas at QT, Murphy's or any place where the price of gas is the same, then you're getting up to 10% Ethanol anyway.