Our Olde House: March 2024
I decided to let technology help me with my freezing pipes on the back deck, so I purchased an electric pipe heater and taped it to the pipes. This is basically a wire that gets warm when its thermostat detects the pipe temperature at 38F or below and stays on until the thermostat reaches 45F. The only trick to it, which is not mentioned in the sales pitch, is that it must be plugged into a ground-fault receptacle; fortunately for us, when the outside wall of the kitchen was replaced last year we did install an outside ground-fault receptacle.
I realize the great risk of receiving another Mister Smartypants award for this solution, but in my defense the pipe heater did work the one time since its installation that the outside temperature dropped below freezing. I was outside first thing that morning to see if it was working, and son of a gun the wire felt warm to the touch. Now I just need to remember to plug it in on those nights when below freezing temperatures are expected.
We found a guy who could cut down the Black Walnut tree, and scheduled a day in between rain storms for him to do the work. He had a cherry picker that he would move into place, and then tie a rope around the limb that he was going to cut to keep it from falling; this process was working great. After trimming a lot of limbs from the tree, he cut into a large limb about twenty-five feet up that turned out to be almost completely hollow.
He said that since the tree was essentially hollow, it was no longer safe for him to continue cutting off limbs with the equipment he had; he was concerned that a cut limb would work free from his rope and fall to the ground after going through the carport. We all agreed that safety was our first concern, so he stopped trimming the tree, we paid him for the portion he completed, and then we called another tree trimmer that he suggested.
The second tree trimmer studied the tree for awhile to determine how it could be cut down; he could see that the three foot diameter tree trunk was hollow twenty feet up, or more, making it very dicey to remove. We called the power company to temporarily physically disconnect the power feed to our apartment in order to provide enough open space for his equipment to maneuver. Miss Sherry arranged for the power company to disconnect the wire early in the next week, and for the tree trimmers to return that same day.
On the appointed day for the tree removal, the power company was late and the tree guy was early on the first pass. After the power was disconnected we were able to get the tree guy to come back. His equipment was like a metal spider that he would move into position by remote control; the tree guy stayed on the ground while the spider cherry picker remained unmanned. The spider was moved into position and grabbed onto a large limb at the top of the remaining tree, and then a chainsaw appeared and cut off the limb below the spider. After the cut limb stopped flailing around, the spider lowered the limb to the ground where it was cut up and eventually hauled away. This process was repeated several times until the tree was gone except for twenty-five feet of the trunk.
I think the main trunk of the tree was too large in diameter for the spider to get a good grip, so the cherry picker was used to hold up large straps that were wrapped around a section of the trunk to hold it up, and then a chainsaw was used to cut the trunk. This also caused the cut trunk to flail above the carport until it calmed down enough to be lowered onto the ground. Fascinating to watch, and I really liked the increased safety afforded because the spider was unmanned. The downed tree limbs were cut up and loaded onto a large truck; the entire area was swept clean and all debris was removed.
Miss Sherry called the power company to tell them the tree was gone and they could come back and reconnect the power. At first they said there was no record of our request to disconnect and reconnect the power. Miss Sherry gave them the work order number and lo and behold they found it. Then they said they needed the tenant’s social security number before they could reconnect the power. Earlier they needed the meter number which we gave them, but that was not good enough now. Miss Sherry was able to contact our tenant after some time, got the number, and called the power company back.
Now the power company said they needed the phone number of our tenant before they could reconnect the power, something they failed to mention until then. Fortunately, while Miss Sherry was discussing the need for more information, the power company crew who disconnected the power stopped by to see if the tree was gone, and since it was gone, they reconnected the power.
After the power was reconnected I came into the house where Miss Sherry was still discussing reconnecting the power with the power company. I told her the power was on, she hung up, and we breathed a collective sigh of relief. Seven days later the power company called us and asked if we still wanted the power reconnected. I am not sure what her exact words were, but Miss Sherry indicated that the power was on. There are no simple tasks.
