Umm, What Was THAT?!

 I was watching the ice skating on tv last Sunday afternoon when I heard a loud 'sound'.  It had been very windy all day I had been up and down every time I heard a noise thinking something had broken.  Each time I could see nothing out of place.

 So when I heard this loud noise I just figured it was something on the neighbours place and I didn't get up to look.  The ice skating was too good to miss!

However half an hour or so later when I did get up THIS is what I saw!  One of my neighbours huge tree's had come down in the wind and landed in my back yard.  In the first photo you can see their place behind my garden shed.  What you can't see is the chair I sit on in the sun with all the cats!  Lucky I wasn't sitting there when the tree fell!

Where I live in the Waitakere Ranges there are thusands of protected Native tree's that you are not allowed to cut down.  The council here are super-strict about it and if you don't abide by their laws you can end up with a very hefty fine.  

So, I called the Council and told them what had happened.  They said "DO NOT TOUCH IT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES,  and go and see the neighbour who owns the tree and tell them to call the council".  "You may need to get a PERMIT to chop the fallen tree up and cart it away!"  Pardon?  A PERMIT to chop up a dead (non Native) tree??  Isn't that a bit OTT???

So off I went to see the neighbours whom I had not met before.  Told them the story and they too were like, "A PERMIT to cut up an dead tree, really?!"  Yep, really.  So they contact the council and tell them the story.  Tree fell on the neighbours place, can we chop it up and remove it?

"No way", said the council, "You need to wait until a PLANNER comes out to look at the tree and checks if you need a PERMIT to chop it up and take it away!"

OMG, my poor neighbours were gobsmacked, like me!

So we wait.  Another call to the council and guess what?  We can chop it and do what we like with the tree and no permit is required!  This council person was as gobsmacked as we were that we had both been told not to touch the tree until a council Planner had been to see if we needed a permit to chop it up!!

Honestly, what a hoo ha over a dead tree!  

So now my neighbours are coming to chop up the tree and dispose of it.  In the meantime the cats have been having a great time climbing the fallen tree!

Thanks fro visiting; {{HUGS}} from me to YOU:-)