So as a neighborhood, we all agreed to having the Township put in a drainage system; even though most of us don’t have a problem. Just the people with houses in the Southeast corner of the neighborhood have flooding. But, we’re all so nice (and we want to keep those property values up because that affects all of us), we let the Township come in, look everything over, and propose a fix – a new drainage system.

Being a Michigan Fat Old Lady, I assumed the work would begin in the Spring. You know, when the ground unfreezes.

Nope.

They started just about the time the first snow flew.

They placed piles and piles of cement piping on the empty lot next to Midland Road. BIG-ass cement pipes. I mean, just how much water do they think needs handling? This is some soggy ground and leaky basements, not the fucking Everglades back there.

And BIG-ass pipes require BIG-ass trenches.

They went through and marked all our yards with paint to show where pipes and electrical cables, etc. ran. We are in the middle of a very snowy Michigan winter. Each snowfall obliterated the paint. So they would do it again. And again. Not fast learners. They finally came through and marked everything with little (snow proof) flags.

We’ve been concerned about how far into our yard they were going to have to go to put in their BIG-ass trenches. We were concerned because we have two good-sized trees in our front yard that are about 5 feet from the edge of the road.

Or those trees were about 5 feet from the edge of the road.

Today, to make room for the BIG-ass trenches which will hold the BIG-ass pipes, our trees were cut down.

Since these were oak trees, our squirrels and deer will be devastated (although, we still have one big oak tree in the front, and at least one in the backyard). Our lawn people will probably be thrilled, because oak trees are messy year round.

Don’t know if they’re going to remove the two big stumps. If not, any suggestions on how to incorporate them into our landscaping?

So imagine the house below, with everything covered with snow – with the echoes of two trees that are no more:

Gone – but not forgotten.