Morning trauma . . . and a bit of drama

At 5:30 this morning we were awakened by a roaring chain saw. I rolled over and asked, "Do you think they have decided to trim the palm trees?" A grunt was my reply. The roar made me happy because we have been experiencing what I call "palm snow storms" daily. This is the time of year they try to replicate themselves by sending out 6 to 8 foot shoots which flower in tiny little white blossoms, hence the "snow." This later leads to bee bee size black seeds by the thousands. Our wonderful backyard neighbors have 16 giant palms, so do the math and multiply the mess. You probably recognized that I was able to quote for you the entire life cycle of said palms. This is because they were not trimmed until much later last year. I finally bought a powerful indoor/outdoor vacuum to deal with the "snow" last year. I hate the mess. I love the ambiance and shade they provide for our side of the fence.

Now for the trauma/drama. The trimmer had started on the street side. As he made his way around their yard I realized that he would soon be over my greenhouse which was not there the year before. It's made from polycarbonate, thin polycarbonate which might not be up to gigantic palm fronds falling from 50 feet. Glen is usually home longer on Tuesday mornings and I was grateful for his Spanish language skills. He pointed out the green house and explained that he had to be careful. Good thing. You should have seen the fronds landing hard on our other neighbor's outdoor ramada roof.
We also quickly added some padding, just in case. So here is the thing. He was really careful and we realized that he did have the skills to direct the fall of the fronds. Only two items land on our side of the fence. He moves on to the next tree and fronds are flying everywhere, mostly into our backyard. They take out our tiki torches and mangle our plants. He continues on for the last two trees. Was he planning on coming into our yard to clean up? We have no idea, so Glen starts sending them through the fence part that hasn't been heightened. I think the palm trimmer knew he had a good thing going. Glen was picking up all his mess. I do know that Glen will not be asking him to trim the palms at his office building. Not a very good way to get to get referrals!