Tuesday, May 12, 2020

The Huge Oak Tree

The really Huge Oak Tree on the Santa Barbara property must be about 200 years old because this thing is gigantic. It was left in place when this home was built likely (California Ranch Style) on the top of a hill in Santa Barbara in the 1950s with no basement in one story with a slab foundation and a lot of windows because it stays warm enough here year around to do that. It never snows in Santa Barbara simply because of how far south it is and because it's right on the ocean here just north of Los Angeles on the coast. When you head north from Santa Barbara along the coast there is only Santa Maria and then Pismo Beach and San Luis Obispo before you get to Paso Robles and Salinas and other larger cities. Otherwise it is mostly vineyards and farms and ranches between Santa Barbara and San Francisco on 101 which makes for a very pleasant drive any time of the year except in heavy winds and rains because there will not be snow usually ever on 101 headed north to San Francisco. Whereas if you go north from Los Angeles on Interstate 5 over the grapevine, the grapevine often closes because of snow or being impassable for various reasons in the winter time. So, 101 you can usually get through year around (except during heavy flooding) which might occur between January and March some years.

So, anyway this huge oak it appears has a root that has gone under the house on the hill and is doing some damage to the house next to it. The latest thing it has done is to break the drain pipe to the drain from the kitchen sink so that is part of what we will be dealing with this week. This house being on a hill has an amazing view of the surrounding area and the Oak is very beautiful but having to repair the house knowing this could get worse from the root over time is a concern. But, in life all things keep changing (look at coronavirus worldwide) and one has to adapt one way or another to go on living at all here on earth.

If you know anything about living on the California coast, even if we wanted to we would not be allowed to remove this oak tree even though it is damaging part of the foundation to the house and running roots down into the septic tank for nourishment because trees are all protected along the coast like this from being cut down unless they fall down on a house during a storm. Because of this there are big oaks and other trees all over the place here that aren't allowed to be cut down. You can trim them but you cannot cut them down. But, mostly that's a good thing here on the coast. Other things are protected to like Bears, mountain lions, bobcats etc. We have a bobcat that spends the night in part of our backyard here too. But, obviously, you don't leave pets out at night because mostly Bobcats are more nocturnal.

There are cottontail rabbits that live in this area wild that the bobcat likely lives on with the occasional pet like a cat or a dog that someone forgets to bring in along with rats that might live in oak trees or wild in the coastal forests as well as other smaller wild things like birds in the area as well.

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Bobcats are elusive and nocturnal, so they are rarely spotted by humans. Although they are seldom seen, they roam throughout much of North America and adapt well to such diverse habitats as forests, swamps, deserts, and even suburban areas.






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