Or maybe not that high, but it's at least 2x. I first noticed it from a long way off.

We do have some pines around town, some blue spruce, lots of redcedar, but there is nothing growing around here that looks like a Douglas Fir or whatever this is supposed to be.

I drove my girlfriend over to look at it one day recently, fortunately she was as dumbfounded as I was.

I resent the implication that these things are somehow less objectionable in the landscape than a plain metal tower would be. Are we supposed to be that dumb that it all blends together? What is wrong with things looking like...............get ready for it..........what they are?

+oM

For one thing they look incredibly stupid. Secondly, instead of blending or looking natural they instead stand out more drawing your attention to them. Thirdly, they resemble gigantic artificial Christmas trees (or gigantic bottle brushes) with a dumb looking decoration on top as if someone plunked a candelabra way up there as a final decorative touch and which reminds me of Liberace.

Yea, me too. I'd rather a thing just be what it is. The old rule of Form Follows Function is still a good one because it works.

TR, for what it's worth, I think that about everything. My favorite buildings, for one example, are those where say a rafter end is perhaps visible.....because that's where a rafter would end! Or a rain gutter is made out of galvanized metal......because that's a great material for rain gutters! Vinyl siding....made to look like cedar shakes, has no place in my world, lol.

+om

We were out running errands and I saw some of these same trees but without branches. Now mind you, I've never noticed them before but found out what they are today since now I do notice them (without branches of course). They are repeaters for cell phones. Its kind of like a word you've never heard. Once you hear it seems you then start hearing it all the time. I didn't automatically think of these unbranched repeaters as having a Christmas candelabra on top and never would have. Its a much cleaner look without all the silly gee-gaw stuff which makes me wonder if its someones idea of a joke maybe?

Pretty sure it's not a joke. I think they were originally doing it with palm trees. I could see that blending in a little better in places where they have the tall ones, plus the candelabras would be more hidden by the big leaves at the top.

The candelabras make me think of Saint Lucy/Lucia.

More examples: http://twistedsifter.com/2012/08/examples-of-cell-phone-tower-disguises/

I think #14 might be the way to go if you're not going to just have utilitarian ones.

Yes, not jokes, although they elicit a reaction in me that is somehow related to that emotion. More like disgust-the "tree" ones anyway. So cleverly hidden, aren't they?

+om

wiscon, I don't know how it is where you live but around here bad taste seems to win out most of the time especially when a committee is involved in decision making. Sometimes I think people are so used to cheap and ugly as the norm that their visual aesthetic meter is either stunted, warped or broken. Sappy emotionalism seems to represent the majority.

I wish I could tell you it's not like that around here! I can't.

+om

There's one in Fayetteville, AR too that I spotted some years ago. I'm not aware of any others in the region.

I *LIKE* them. From a distance, if you aren't paying attention, they blend in. Up close they seem whimsical and fun. Seeing them always makes me smile.

Has anyone seen this one? Not a cell phone tower, but along the same lines:

http://www.utah.com/amusement/metaphor_tree.htm

I friend of mine and his wife first ran across this during a storm as they crossed the salt flats one evening. Rain was coming in hard at an angle and suddenly they saw an ominous dark form looming ahead of them.

This is just my opinion, but this is exactly what I resent about so much "art", the implied idea that without this person's wonderful creation, there is nothing of interest in that locale. Is not the very existence of an incredibly flat area a la the salt flats amazing in its own right? Not looking to argue with anyone here, this again just being my personal opinion, but so much of this stuff is, to me, yet another manifestation of human arrogance.

+oM

Oh I don't know (sarcasm), we have a local commercial patting ourselves on the back. It goes something like this:

"Where once there was nothing but an empty prairie there is now the thriving city of Shawnee" (or Guthrie or Oklahoma City, it changes from commercial to commercial). Then they go on to list the various buildings, oil industry, commerce, stores, banks etc. The image starts out dull and becomes colorized in bright fake looking crayola colors as the empty prairie fills in with interesting things.

There's just something about the words "empty prairie" that really reflects the way people view these 'useless' empty places like that one needing 'something' up there in Utah.

Right, right. Even my dad, with whom I share a great many viewpoints, once asked of the "Florida scrub"-what a name for a plant community that is-"what good is it"? And, "what do you do with it"? To which my own internal dialogue went something like "What can I tell you that you will begin to understand"? LOL...except it t'ain't funny.

+oM

Guess its a matter of priority. To an oil and gas man there ain't nuthin out there. To me a prairie is full of life. I come from people who were in the land run. To them it was rich land for farming to cattle men its for grazing and they want the prairie dogs gone. To city folk, its a boring scene from the car window. Mountains & lakes are something to look at. Grasslands are a lot of empty space. I'm an artist but I certainly don't need to see art out there.

I had to come back and edit that the oil companies are getting good about responsibly restoring the land, you can report problems or abandoned sites and they will get on it. Credit where credit is due.