I have a brilliant idea! Rent yourself a Tasmanian devil and have him eat the tree like on Bugs Bunny.

But seriously, your point about municipalities enacting stupid by-laws is spot on.

Thankfully this past week I heard that Ottawa city council was NOT going to try and introduce trans-fat free food legislation for restaurants and they also lifted the ban on road hockey. Maybe common sense in making a comeback?

In other news, the Tasmanian Devil is almost extinct! Apparently, they are dying off due to some *airborne* cancer. Now that's truly a scary thought, isn't it? They give the animals 5 more years if nothing changes.

My fiancé Lisa says the tree removal people she contacted will officially state that the tree we want taken down is a hazard. It really is...it was planted too close to the fence and grew with a flat side where it was against the fence. Quite interesting to look at, really!

During winter storms, our electricity, here in Burnaby, would frequently go out due to trees or branches taking out the power lines when they fell. Most of these trees are Douglas firs and Western hemlocks that grow very rapidly and are among the tallest growing species in Canada. The majority of these trees originated from field trips to the UBC Demonstration Forest in Maple Ridge and were handed out to school kids as a memento of their visit.
People then have to put up with these large trees: Ruining their lawns due to large shady areas cast by the trees and the acid soil from the falling needles in the summer, their gutters getting clogged with needles, tree roots plugging their drainage tiles, branches scraping the sides of their homes etc.
Owners are reluctant to have the trees removed because of all the red tape they have to go through so they "prune" the branches and end up with some pretty ratty looking specimens!
I love trees as they are nice to look at and supply us with oxygen but homeowners should think twice before they plant a tree that within a few years will be causing them problems unless they buy a dwarf variety.
A private company has the contract to prune these trees that are growing into the power lines. So, every fall, they do a very light cosmetic trim instead of cutting off large branches and the power outage cycle then repeats itself!