Glad you were there to take the boys to safety! Hope all is well at your place!

I am currently annoyed with the tree trimmers our power company has hired to trim around the power lines. Not them, per se, but the time of year they choose to do the trimming. The birds in my neighborhood have been very upset and raising a fuss. How are they suppose to nest and raise young?

omg you should see what they have done cut back trees here...they might as well removed them....personally I don't understand why they don't spend the money trimming trees and bury the cable...

Bob, I'm glad you moved the horses.

I don't leave the dogs out when I am not home, and I think that is

a good idea:

http://www.cnn.com/videos/us/2016/04/13/contractor-hits-dogs-with-wrench-on-cam-pkg.ktrk

Last year the PG&E sent out one young guy. He asked if we had anyone here to help him.

I was 75 and my husband was 83....so, nope he was on his own.

He trimmed about three inches off the tops.

Two years ago the "electric boys" trimmed my big old boxelder corner tree......it creates a lot of laughter from townspeople about how bad it looks.

"I have a running feud ....."

lily, why? You can be sure your electricity company has a legal right to trim those trees as they see fit. I'm sure they don't need your permission nor do they need to consider your preferences before doing the job as they decide to do it. It isn't like going in to get a free haircut, they're doing the job for their own benefit, not for yours.

As a matter of PR, most companies providing a utility service try to be agreeable with belligerent customers and homeowners but you might try a more cooperative approach for their sanity and your own.

I don't understand why people don't look up for power lines BEFORE planting trees under them, or in close proximity, in the first place? At the very least, the property owner should be responsible for them and fined if they don't.

When the utility company comes through and "butchers" mature trees that are in contact with lines, they should just remove them completely rather than cut off one whole side of the tree, or the very ugly "V" through the center of a lane of 15 locust trees in front of the college, and the ever-popular "flat-top" - only to have to repeat the costly process a few years later. Underground utilities would certainly make more sense....

I haven't yet carefully scanned the yard to see what the tree crew did do, but they did not cut down the problem tree. Nor did they communicate their plans to me as to if or when they may be back.

I did check the yard over the weekend, and the crew did trim many of the trees along the road, and from my brief conversations with them, and from looking at their work its clear that they don't know much about trees.

Also I think is unreasonable and overly simplistic to characterize the interactions between utility companies' tree crews and the homeowners as being the electric company carefully exercising their legal rights within the easement vs belligerent customers and homeowners too stupid and foolish to realize that the tree trimming, however ugly, is for their own good.

Many times the arrogant, autocratic electric monopolies will overstep the bounds of the easement, unilaterally deciding to trim back or cut down trees that in their opinion may someday reach as far as the easement. Others companies have adopted policies they call "Ground to Sky" and remove every tree, bush, shrub within the easement irrespective of whether the plant could ever reach as far as the power lines. There have even been cases where the electric company has intentionally violated a court order, trespassed on a homeowner's property and cut down all of the trees covered by the court order.

Even in cases where they stay within the bounds of the easement, the electric companies (or the tree companies they contract to do the work) will send out relatively unknowledgeable crews armed with chain saws and one-size-fits-all guidelines that all too often fail to take the specific characteristics of the trees or the future health of those trees into account.

In the past, work done by electric company tree crews on my property led directly to the death of two trees they had worked on. One white pine that they cut like a candelabra became unbalanced and toppled. Another tree they trimmed rotted internally at the site of a poorly-removed branch; that tree broke in half at the rotted spot and fell directly on the power lines.

This particular time the crew trimmed some branches that would never encroach or impinge on the power lines. They trimmed some weeping cherry trees in a way that will encourage those trees to regrow toward the power lines rather than away from them. And a couple of pine trees that did need trimming, had they bothered to ask, I would have happily given them permission to remove entirely rather than return and re-butcher every couple of years.

The work they did this time doesn't look too bad, and like a bad haircut will grow out, eventually. However I find the lack of communication frustrating. They showed up unannounced, let themselves into the pasture with horses we are boarding, did a fair bit of work some of which was probably unnecessary, and then did nothing with the big problem tree I originally contacted them about.

I don't understand. Why is the electric company trimming your trees? If they are your trees, they are your responsibility and you should be trimming them no?

If the trees are on an easement held by the utility company, it is their responsibility.

If the trees were planted by the electric company then I could understand but if a homeowner decides to plant in the easement, they should be responsible for the tree trimming as well, in my opinion.

Our electric company trims any foliage that may interfere with the lines or support poles. Their policy is to trim only stuff that might interfere and will not touch anything outside the easement. Sometimes this results is half of a tree being cut away. The arborists who do this know the tree is unbalanced but will not break with protocol based on the company's lawyer's advice. If you wish to have more done to a particular tree, call their office and contract the work on a private basis.

Our electric company has a few sets of trimming equipment, but prefers to let the job to a specialist company who are very adept in taking down parts or all of a tree without dropping something in traffic or on a building.

If you want to see smash/tear-up job, take a look at a country roadside after the cable or phone company uses a bush-whacker. That thing does more breaking and tearing than cutting. It looks like a giant went though with a big weed whip, one big enough to rip off a tree branch. The railroads in our area does the same thing: tear and rip more than cutting.

I live in a subdivision with buried utility lines. I don't understand planting on top of the lines. I called the number for buried utility lines and had them marked before I planted. My neighbor plants on top of the lines. She said she had various things dug up five or six times when her neighbors had an issue with something and needed something buried..

Our previous electric company wouldn't do anything until a tree fell on the power lines. Our current company, however, does yearly trimming. They notify us in their monthly magazine; follow up with a postcard advising us that it will be done (if we have any objections, we can advise them of such); then they come to the house the day before, or the day of, the trimming. They do not butcher trees, and they have a cleanup crew that comes along and cleans up any mess (and chips cut branches). We always thank them for doing such a good job, as we would rather have trees cut before they take out our power.