Tales From the SOUTH Side...
I was thinking what better way to begin our THIRD year here than with one of those marvelously inane occurrences that (unfortunately) we are witness to most ANY day of ANY week.
You might recall from the archives the story about the tree down our street that BARELY missed a neighbor's house when it's dead limbs broke off last year.
If not, here's the "back story":

The house 2 doors down had a mom that was doing METH (and pot and was drunk a helluva lot). She tagged up with some tattooed loser she met in rehab, and together they had some nice code "46's". She had been working at a nearby Pizza Hut. One of her 2 boys was considered mentally "slow" (he was older than 18, but could always be found at home to play the latest video game), the other was starting to get with the punk crowd, and his taste for music(?) showed it.
Finally, they all moved one Saturday morning earlier this year (rather quickly, too). Seems the house went into foreclosure (must have been those drugs, because at least SHE WAS working before she got FIRED). Yes sir, nothing like that "meth-skinny" look as a diet plan and financial assistant to screw one's life up.
The house has been sitting vacant since, and was targeted by scrappers less than a month ago. Luckily my last, good neighbor next door called the FWPD and chased them away...for the time being. NCE came and boarded the house up, after noting the basement had an indoor "water feature" consisting of 3 feet OF water in the basement, thanks to a non-functioning sump pump and a blocked drain. Fortunately, OUR house suffers from neither issue, and probably never will. We sit a bit higher than the other houses on the street. I like our little "Acropolis".
Anyway...back to the story...
On the vacant property, there is STILL this HUGE, DEAD tree that has this nasty habit of breaking limbs (the circumference of Rosie O'Donnell with the length of about 30 FEET)! Last year, I mentioned such an "event" (which barely missed my buddy's wife's car) and took pictures for our former neighbor's insurance company. It was then we noticed a nice split down the entire trunk.
It was a matter of time before lightning would strike twice.
Last Saturday, such a limb fell onto the neighboring property down the block (once owned by my buddy living nicely up near Harlan now), and all weekend, the owner/renter of the place did absolutely NOTHING.
The tree trunk sat ON THE SIDEWALK for over two days. He came out to LOOK at it (as if it were going to move on sheer brain power...yeah right, not in THIS lifetime and you've got none of the tools needed anyway, bub).
And so it still rested on the sidewalk, effectively blocking it (people DO tend to prefer the street anyway around here, so no biggie).
Until yesterday, that is.
Click on the photos to enlarge them and see even more detail.
The person decided (with as little thought as possible) to MOVE this huge trunk. And what BETTER place to pull it with that minivan, than INTO THE MIDDLE OF OUR STREET...where it sat for about an HOUR with no one attempting to move it further, cut it, or even remove it.

(Stay with me now...it gets even better)
This is where *I* just had to "intervene"...
I wasn't going to wait ANY longer for "Mr. Do-Nothing" to do...well, nothing.
I notified NCE about the tree in an email early Monday AM (also sending along the pictures seen here), AND I called the FWPD to report a TRAFFIC HAZARD, which to any NORMAL person, this surely represents. Add to that the fact that any cars were tip-toeing their way past it to get up (or down) the street.

Within THIRTY MINUTES, not ONLY did we get TWO (count 'em, 2) STREET DEPARTMENT trucks, BUT we also got the FWPD! Simply AMAZING.
The squeaky wheel STILL gets the oil, I guess.

Well, after THEY (4 good-sized men) moved the limbs to the opposite side of the street's curb, they set about wondering WHAT to do next.

The man from the house came out and they were all standing about chatting.
It was so typical...everyone standing around, looking at the limbs, then back at the tree, then back at the limbs. Must have cost the city a few bucks for all these "supervisors".
I'd bet the farm that these guys talked about how that tree should come down.
Well it WAS coming down...just NOT precisely in the manner they were originally hoping for.
Can't fault Mother Nature for doing HER thing, can you?


A little later, the PARKS DEPARTMENT came along with their chipper and they finally got rid of the offensive sight.
Now...WTF is wrong with the person on who's property that this tree fell calling those departments that I went and called?
Another case of "2 LAZY 2 BOTHER"?
I'd have to say YES.
Oh, and BTW, the person on whose property this all happened on is "less than Caucasian" (just so you don't think it's a white trash issue, which we ALSO have in abundance). And the guy has a bluetooth in his ear all the time, so he MUST have some form of T-COMM available to call HIMSELF to get the limbs removed. Is this a "racist" observation?
Not one damn bit.
It's just the M.O. of the people around here, who all happen to BE of a rather ethnic persuasion.
But does our story end there?
Most assuredly not.
You see, the man at that house gathered up ALL the other limbs that had fallen and did the ONE thing you or I would most likely NOT do. He placed them ON THE PROPERTY next door (the vacant house). Now we would have gathered them all up, took out the pruners, cut them down to sizes smaller than 3 feet in length, and placed them in the trash bins for pickup. Like I said, "another case of 2 LAZY 2 BOTHER". They just do ANYTHING that requires the LEAST amount of effort, with the most amount of personal satisfaction. And their kids learn that REAL early as they toss candy wrappers and soda cans all over our streets, rather then waiting until they get home or (heaven forbid) they find a receptacle to place it into.
There ends the "saga" of the neighbor's fallen limb.
As for me...well, LAST Monday, you recall my post about a limb I had dropping (and getting ready to break). I acted in a preventive nature and get the limb REMOVED before it came crashing down, and MY tree is not dead in ANY way. It was an accident waiting to happen, and I don't like those things hanging over our heads. I've got plenty of "Swords of Damocles" to go around. Same goes for another neighbor a block over. She did likewise to PREVENT damage to HER house (and she's white as well). it's called GIVING A DAMN, unlike many people of color who will not lift a finger to do anything.
Hey, maybe it's another "cultural" thang with them...you know, the whole "circle of life, can't harm a tree" thing. Who can say? I'd bet Glynn Hines doesn't wait for any of HIS trees to fall to get them trimmed.
Yeah, if there is a disconnect in this city, it IS by race. The STUPID race has voluntarily exiled themselves from the rest of society (for some time now), and whatever color they are, they are AMONG us this very minute, trying their damnedest to do nothing, and do it as much, and as often as possible. That leaves (pun intended) things getting done in our neighborhoods to ones such as US, the few...the proud..the caring.
This is about as great a burden as returning (Caution - J.R.R. Tolkien reference ahead) the RING OF POWER to Mt. DOOM in Mordor, and casting it into the fire...(where's a few good hobbits when you NEED them?)...only the journey isn't nearly AS scenic, or comrades as easily secured to accompany us.
And, try as I might, even I cannot call this a community these days (unless you want to call some neighbor's garage the COMMUNITY URINAL...In THAT, there is consensus).
As for all the rest? Hell, a few well-placed bricks of C-4 would do the trick!
Ah yes, I do like to dream.
For as I like to say: "The price...is ALWAYS right".