So... Skip and YrHmblScrb had this lil exchange in comments yesterday:
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That pic was taken sometime in the early '90s and note the two large trees in the foreground. There was another, equally large tree to the immediate left of the two-trunked tree on the left hand side of the pic. Those were big-assed trees, Gentle Reader, at least 40 to 50 feet worth o' tree, and they towered over the house. And here's how Google's Street View depicts the house in 2012:
Those big-ass trees? Gone! The "new" owners of the ol' homestead dropped a significant amount of cash to have the trees removed, if one can believe the cost estimates at this tree service's web site. I know change happens, it's the way o' the world. But I don't think this change improved the "curb appeal" of this house... as a s'matter o' fact I think it hurt. But, Hey! I can take my opinion, add about three Yankee Dollars to it and buy a cup o' coffee at nearly any Starbucks.
Update, later that same day: We did it again, just (a) for drill and (b) because we CAN. Here's a "then and now" of yet another old homestead, this bein' the house I owned in Fairport, NY, a suburb o' Ra-Cha-Cha. First the near-now:
And the way we were:
I don't have a summer shot of the house, unfortunately, but I think the new owners here have increased the curb appeal significantly. The ol' place looks a lot better now than it did when I was in it.
I don't have very many happy memories about this place. There are a few, granted. The four years I spent here weren't all THAT bad, especially if one discounts the worst singular experience of my entire life that played out (in slow motion) within the walls of this house. Forgetting that might be asking too much.
Uh, Buck, if being married to a Michigander counts, I have more time in grade than you.
Oh, and she lived withing spittin' distance of Woodward Ave.- I lived about ten houses west of Woodward (or about three-fourths of a block) while I was in Dee-troit. I couldn't spit that far, but I sure could run it without getting out of breath. Then. (Google 351 West Oakridge Ave, Ferndale)
That pic was taken sometime in the early '90s and note the two large trees in the foreground. There was another, equally large tree to the immediate left of the two-trunked tree on the left hand side of the pic. Those were big-assed trees, Gentle Reader, at least 40 to 50 feet worth o' tree, and they towered over the house. And here's how Google's Street View depicts the house in 2012:
 |
| There's significant lens distortion here, given my house was about the same size as the one to the right (in the pic). |
Those big-ass trees? Gone! The "new" owners of the ol' homestead dropped a significant amount of cash to have the trees removed, if one can believe the cost estimates at this tree service's web site. I know change happens, it's the way o' the world. But I don't think this change improved the "curb appeal" of this house... as a s'matter o' fact I think it hurt. But, Hey! I can take my opinion, add about three Yankee Dollars to it and buy a cup o' coffee at nearly any Starbucks.
Update, later that same day: We did it again, just (a) for drill and (b) because we CAN. Here's a "then and now" of yet another old homestead, this bein' the house I owned in Fairport, NY, a suburb o' Ra-Cha-Cha. First the near-now:
And the way we were:
I don't have a summer shot of the house, unfortunately, but I think the new owners here have increased the curb appeal significantly. The ol' place looks a lot better now than it did when I was in it.
I don't have very many happy memories about this place. There are a few, granted. The four years I spent here weren't all THAT bad, especially if one discounts the worst singular experience of my entire life that played out (in slow motion) within the walls of this house. Forgetting that might be asking too much.
One could say Plus ça change, plus c'est s'aggraver...
ReplyDeleteOr words to that effect.
I'll buy that.
DeleteGod that story about the loss of those trees makes me sick, Buck. Every place I've ever lived from the time I grew up to now save out place in Marina del Rey (apt) and our current place in New Orleans had LOTS of HUGE shade trees. I love trees! Of course they can be a pain. We had to remove a giant Cottonwood behind our N.O. place because it had rotted/hollowed out and we unfortunately lost a couple to disease in Louisville also. The oddest loss occurred at our first place in N.O. in 1976. we had three large Palm trees in the corner of the back yard which shaded part of the pool. One had been trained to elbow out over the pool and then back to the vert. Made a very beautiful site/sight. We came home one night to find it collapsed into the pool--weakened by boring beetles. Had to get a crane to lift it out. LOTS$ Pool area never looked the same again..
ReplyDeleteGod that story about the loss of those trees makes me sick, Buck.
DeleteMe, too. The ONLY reasons to take down a tree are if it's sick or has severe damage from a storm and is threatening to come down, anyway. That's a sad story about your pool-palm, Virgil.
"...the ONLY reason..."
DeleteHeh, depends on one's perspective. When we were having a new roof installed our roofer said after the job was done: "Now what you should do is get rid of all those trees so people can appreciate the beauty of the new roof." LOL!
Okay... you win on distance, but not time.
ReplyDeleteOTOH my brother-in-law's mother-in-law still lives the next street over, on Cambridge, from your old place.
In re: yer brother-in-law's mother-in-law. Pleasant Ridge is a VERY nice neighborhood.
DeleteGet that driveway shoveled!
ReplyDeleteI had people for that.
DeleteLived for a year over on Ayrault Rd. 20 years ago.
ReplyDeleteSorry your stay here in Western NY wasn't pleasant, Buck. I hope you did get to appreciate everything we have to offer (less the suffocating taxes) in our little town and surrounding 'burbs.
tim
I had a damned good time in Ra-cha-cha, Small Tee, but the break-up of my marriage and subsequent divorce colored the experience, unfortunately. If I were still happily married I might still be in Rochester, too.
Delete