The Procurement of Arboreal Resources

Last night we were standing on our back porch-like thing (which is actually more related, in terms of dimensions, to a hallway except instead of a bathroom at the end of it there's a Weber) in Wallingford. It was raining and we were drinking a can of beer and wondering where all the T-storms and hail were. Never showed, Double Doppler. And we thought back on some of the heavy weather that did show up as promised in the past few months. In fact some of the shingles that were blown off of the house up the street during the wind storm are still down there in the back yard, nearly completely covered by the spring grass. That violently diagonal stump a few houses up the hill? Still there. Still more unearthed than not. And this is relatively lightly winded Wallingford. They're probably still running on battery power in Duval.

We got a viewer mail yesterday:

Not exactly a gripe: after the storm earlier this year, my cedar tree had pulled up part of my driveway and steps. I contacted the state for a certified arborist, twice and was given a list of names, told to look for a phone # in the Yellow Pages. Most names, after Yellow Pages and online searches, were in Eastern WA. Local named persons said they "may" be able to look at the tree by July-August.

Does the city have any arboreal resources - someone to assess this tree
and determine whether it is a risk to power lines, gas lines,
my/neighbors' homes?

Thank you for your email, viewer. After an extensive web search Seattlest has found that a chainsaw can be procured from Handy Andy Rent-a-Tool at 10711 Aurora Ave N. and someone or someones to man said chainsaw can be procured across from the Home Depot at 11616 Aurora Ave N. Or, if you'd prefer an actual answer, we suggest you call Seattle City Light and tell them the tree is damaged and threatening the power lines. No guarantee that they won't stop off at Handy Andy on the way there, but they should respond before the July or August that the freelance arboreal resources have indicated. If you don't mind, can you tell them about the stump and the shingles in Wallingford while you have them on the line? Seattlest has to cut the grass eventually.

Image courtesy of veganstraightedge at Flickr.