The Rhododendron Gardens

Things here in the forest continue as before. We're in mid-spring now (northern-hemispherites should think "April"). The azaleas have bloomed and are nearly done. The rhododendrons are in swing now - and over the last couple of weeks, Stephen and I have started a new exercise routine, which involves walking in the local parks. We've spent a lot of time in the National Rhododendron Gardens up in Olinda.

Here are a couple of photos

 

This one (above) taken at the large pond just inside the entrance. It was a little overcast the day we were there with our cameras - so the photo just doesn't do it justice.

The hot pink azaleas are just stunning. The photo above
from a couple of weeks ago. The azaleas blooms are starting to fade now.

Who can fail to be charmed by a ladybug? At various spots around the gardens you find these painted rock ladybugs. This one is about 8" across. Most of the "rock bugs" are about this size. Some of them have little antenna painted on their heads and some (not all) have names on the side.

Too much of a good thing

I freely admit that it took me a while to get used to the huge huntsman spiders we found inside the house from time to time. At first I was pretty freaked out and used to worry about having one on me, and possibly being bitten. After a while, though, I came to realize that they are pretty benign, even helpful (no need for bug spray in our house, the spiders keep the insect population in check). I've only met one person who claims to have been bitten, although EVERYBODY has had one in the house from time to time. Huntsman encounters are fairly common here.

I still don't want them to be on me (and that has not happened so far), but I'm actually pleased when I find one. They normally stay up high on the walls or even on the ceilings. If they see you coming, they generally try to skitter away. They aren't the least bit aggressive and, again, they're helpful. We live in the middle of a forest, so insects would overrun the place without the huntsmen.

So OK. One or two 8-legged wonders is a good thing.  But you can have too much of a good thing.

It's spring here, and lots of critters are nesting, raising a family. We've spotted a couple of tiny little baby huntsmen in the kitchen and upstairs hallway - to which I say "Hi, there!  Welcome, Junior!"

But a couple of days ago I walked into the foyer and found a baby spider on the wall only about a meter from the floor. Hm.. that's not normal. I wondered why he was way down there. Then I looked up...

Oh, my....

...arachnids in abundance...

I started counting.... 24 babies in the foyer. One in the kitchen (only one?!?!). Then I went into Stephen's office and gasped. In total I counted 63 huntsmen on the first floor. Momma Huntsman must've been taking fertility drugs.

Thank heavens they are just tiny little babies.  If we had that many full-grown "Wolfgangs", I think I might end up with a terminal case of the "willies".

The American Holiday I'd Like to Import

Ah... Thanksgiving.

Tomorrow (Thurs) is Thanksgiving Day - aka "Turkey Day" in America.  I adore Thanksgiving - always have.

The aroma of a fully-stuffed turkey roasting in the oven. The stuffing (the EXTRA stuffing 'casserole' I always made because the little bit inside the bird is never enough), the homemade cranberry sauce, green bean casserole, homemade rolls, pumpkin pie with whipped cream and so on.

OooooOOOoooooo.  It's heaven - and it's all wrapped up in the true story of how starving English settlers were assisted by Native Americans, and how they came together to have a feast to share the best of each others' traditions and available foods.

Unfortunately, the traditional Turkey Day fare is somewhat heavy and suited to cold climates. Here in Australia the end of November it's warm, as the US might see in late May - and it's a little harder now to work up much enthusiasm for a big hot meal. It's also expensive, esp. as turkey (which is just sooooo cheap in the US) is harder to get here and costs a LOT more. Back in 2006, when I'd first arrived here, I ordered a whole turkey from a butcher shop in North Carlton - not far from my mother-in-law's home. Her birthday was November 22 - the day before Thanksgiving day that year, so it made sense.  Well, it made sense to me and Judith certainly didn't mind. I must say up-front that turkey was the BEST turkey I ever roasted; it was perfect in every way. But it was also a 12 pound bird which cost just over $60! OUCH! Since then I've been able to find whole turkey at much lower prices - although never as low as the prices I was used to in Ohio.

Anyway - being a huge fan of this holiday, I have imported it to Australia, in my own way. I now annually have a "Thanksgiving Day Feast" - but I have it in June or July (usually July). I really enjoy doing the whole feast and sharing with our dinner guests the fact that the original Thanksgiving feast was truly a multicultural event - something Australians appreciate, as our society also benefits from the blending of many peoples, just as the US has.

I get a fresh (not frozen) turkey from my local butcher, make twice-baked potatoes and homemade bread as I've always done.

Cranberry sauce is a bit difficult, as I have never seen fresh cranberries here. I can get frozen ones if I order them in advance - and craisins (dried cranberries) are readily available at the grocery year round now. I found a recipe for cranberry sauce using craisins - and, with a little tweaking, it's a pretty good facsimile.

Pumpkin pie - well, there's a challenge.  Jack-o-lantern-style pumpkins can be found here - for about $3 a kilo, which is, well... ...and you thought $60 for a 12-pound bird was a lot... ...might actually be cheaper to stick a candle inside a whole turkey....? I've adapted, however, and come up with my own recipe using butternut squash. I've been told by people who presume to know that "pumpkin pie" made this way isn't as good. Well, folks, with all modesty I will say that my own adapted recipe makes the BEST darned pumpkin pie I've ever had (I use coconut milk instead of the canned milk from the famous recipe on the side of the "Libby's" brand canned pumpkin - oh it's divine!).

But tomorrow?  No... no turkey for me.  Or wait... Safeway often has turkey drums at a reasonable price and I've learned that putting them into a roasting bag with half a bottle of cheap BBQ sauce, and cooking for 90 minutes at about 200C... yeah... maybe we'll have turkey after all. Just not the whole shebang. That'll I'll save for next July. And maybe when my antipodean Thanksgiving rolls around, I'll share some photos and recipes.

Happy Thanksgiving to my American friends and readers - may peace reign as you celebrate what, I believe, is the worlds oldest holiday which celebrates multicultural communities.

Bed Cages - and why we bother

Many years ago, when I was owned by my first macaw (Pakshi - a Hahns Macaw), I learned an important lesson.

Pakshi had been with me since November and had been a sweet and loving companion. That first spring, however, as the days started getting longer, we had trouble: Pakshi started biting me! I really didn't think I was doing anything to provoke the bites, but they were happening. It seemed like he was nailing me about every other day. At about the same time, my favorite bird fanciers magazine ran an article talking about the necessity of ensuring that birds receive adequate dark/quiet time every night. The article pointed out that especially birds which originate from the tropics or near the equator have not evolved to handle the swings in daylight/darkness. The author of the article proposed that between 10-12 hours of quite and dark are required for these birds to get enough rest - and went on to point out that covering the bird might ensure the dark needed, but not the quiet. A parrot in a covered cage is unlikely to be asleep if the TV is on or there's other activity.

Hm...

I had a medium-sized budgie cage with a wide flap door that I used primarily for Pakshi's travel carrier. This I installed in my guest bedroom (well away from the family room where I spent evenings) and kept a dark towel to pull over top of it. I started a routine of taking him to his "bed" at about 8 or 8:30 every night.

Did it work? YES! He returned to his usual sweet self in about three days. More, he clearly liked the arrangement, because if I failed to take him to "birdee bedtime" on schedule, he'd screech loudly to complain.

From that time on I've been careful to make sure any birds of equatorial or tropical species in my household had a special bedcage - and when I started keeping large macaws was already wise to the necessity of ensuring adequate rest.

As a result, Laka and George both have special "sleep cages". These are very small cages - adequate to allow them to turn around and sit without being up against the bars - but certainly not anywhere near the size of their day cages.

Here's Georges (below). As you can see, it's quite small, but it's adequate because he doesn't really need to move around much at night. It's fitted with a special "manicuring" perch, which helps keep his toenails from getting too sharp. Because his "room" (the guest bedroom) is on the northeast side of the house, we cover it with a dark sheet to ensure he's able to sleep until 6:30 or so (otherwise, he'd be up and serenading us at 5:30 or even earlier).

And here's Laka's cage. Again - it's far too small as a "residence", but for sleeping purposes, it's perfect. She doesn't need a cover - as her room stays darker in the morning than George's does.

And just as Pakshi did all those years ago, Laka and George have come to expect a fairly regular bedtime and can be pretty loud about it if we fail to send them off to "sweet dreams" when they are ready.

It's funny in a way that they would actually WANT to be taken to these small cages at night - but they do.  Laka in particular will head there herself if she's out of her day cage at "bedtime" - and even used to climb the stairs on her own and go straight to "bed". We had to stop allowing her to do that, however, as she didn't actually climb inside the cage (just on top of it), and from there it was too tempting to lean over and gnaw the edges of the bathroom mirror.

Orange Lemons - or Lemon Oranges?

Growing up, as I did, in Ohio, I never dreamed I'd have the luxury of owning citrus trees. But here they are popular and pretty easy to grow! Excited about the prospect of having lemons, limes and so on, we planted a number of trees on the slope below our house. Some of the area is a bit shaded, but friends and neighbors in the area assure us that you can still get fruit as long as the tree gets some sun. So we planted a grapefruit, a couple of varieties of orange, a mandarin orange, and a lemon tree.

The orange trees were quickly devoured by the wallabies, and the grapefruit was pretty well stripped down, although it did survive (it never fruited, however, possibly because it had a tad too much shade). The mandarin is going strong, but has been without any fruit at all. The lemon - a Meyer lemon tree was following the example of the mandarin until last year. Then suddenly it got fruit!

Well - last summer wasn't the easiest one for us here (hot, dry, lots of scary fire weather days) and because I don't frequently go down to where the lemon tree is, well, I just forgot about it. But I remembered it this spring and went down to have a look.

Wow - was it ever loaded with fruit! Most of the lemons (many of which are still ripening) are quite small - but there were a handful that were larger than I expect lemons to be... and they were ORANGE!

Here's a photo of one of two pieces of fruit picked on the same day from the same tree:

What's up with that?!?!?

A little web-based research got me the answer.

Meyer lemon trees, it seems, are orange tree trunks with lemon branches grafted on. Well, whaddya know? And if you leave the fruit on too long, it turns orange and the flavour changes, too. I sliced open one of the orange ones (below) to see what it looked like, and sure enough - about halfway between the colour of a lemon and an orange:

I tasted it - and yup, orangy lemon. I'm not sure about the taste - but maybe I'll develop a fondness for it.

Pictures from the book: Page 32

Buster was always photogenic - what a sweet face! How adorable! And how unwelcome he made himself and his sulphur-crested pals.

It used to just amaze me that the wild birds would be so very bold - they come right up to the windows and doors, tap on the glass for attention. I'm convinced that if we didn't keep a close eye on the doors (making sure they are CLOSED at all times), these birds would have been happy to stroll right into the house. (UGH!)

These days it's rare for us to have a visit from a cockatoo. We make a special effort to chase them off, and since one of us is home nearly all the time, there's always someone on guard. And, of course, Laka does her bit; if a cockatoo shows up, she has a screaming meltdown.

Maggie, Billy Bob and "Junior"

I hadn't really thought about it much, but we haven't seen Maggie and Billy Bob here together for a while. Seperately, yes, but not together - and mostly it's been Billy Bob. The reason? Ah... breeding season. Yes, our magpies have a youngster - "Junior".

Junior is out of the nest now and able to fly quite well. He's sticking pretty close to his mum, loudly whining and begging for food. Here she is feeding him:

There's a certain behaviour I've seen them engaging in - it's really strange. Junior gets over next to his mum and then rolls over onto his back, wiggling his feet in the air and calling out. I finally got a couple of photos of this.  They're not the best quality (I was shooting from quite a distance) but you can see in this one (below) Maggie standing over Junior, who is on his back (the white you see is the underside of his tail).

(Doubleclick these photos to see larger images)

In this next photo (below), Maggie seems to be pecking and prodding at Junior. I'm not sure if she's trying to get him up, or if she's going after some kind of parasite (possibly a leech)?

Here she is standing over him, and rolling him onto his side (he wasn't cooperating, just flopped there like a sack, with her tugging at him).

Finally he's rolling back onto his feet, with Maggie apparently grabbing at his legs from the right hand side.

What are they actually doing? Your guess is as good as mine.

I've seen both parents nudging and pecking at Junior - sometimes one or the other, sometimes together. Maybe they are removing parasites, but it actually looks more like Junior is throwing some kind of temper-tantrum and they're just trying to get him to stop it.

Happy Birthday Vegemite!

Driving home this afternoon I heard on the radio that today is the 90th birthday of Vegemite! Hey! Let's celebrate!

Hm... how do you celebrate such an auspicious occasion? Birthday candles? Champers?  I'll have to give this serious thought.

When I got home, I jumped online to verify the occasion, and came across a radio interview Jamie Callister - grandson of the inventor of this fabulous food, and author of "The Man Who Invented Vegemite".  Here's a link to the webcast of the interview.  Hope you have a listen - and hope you have a jar of Vegemite handy.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, VEGEMITE!!!

Burning Off

You may have heard about the horrific bush fires happening over the past few days in New South Wales. The heat and winds have stirred up a nightmare up there - and we watch the news with the understanding that it's only mid-spring - summer is yet to come.

It's time for people in our area to prepare for summer - and the bushfire season.  That means getting rid of any dead, dried material, the stuff the Country Fire Authority (CFA) refers to as "fuel".

An enormous amount of material falls from the trees here over the winter. Leaves, bark, branches and twigs litter the ground - so much that in places where the ground is sloping, it can be a little hazardous walking if the debris isn't raked aside. There's also a fair number of tree fern fronds which have dried up and broken off - all in all, our property is something of a mess by the time winter has come to an end.

It's been quite some time since burning off has been permitted this spring, but we just somehow never managed to get to it. On the days when it was convenient for us to do it, it would rain, or would have just rained recently, making the material we want to get rid of damp.  But last weekend it all came good.  It was nice on Friday and Saturday as well - the piles of branches and whatnot that Stephen had collected here and there around the yard were quite dry.  There was a little bit of wind, but not much, really, and so conditions were perfect.

We got up, had breakfast and headed out right away.  The weather bureau was predicting a high in the mid-20's, so we wanted to get as much done as possible when it was cool.

One of the problems with burning off is the smoke that is generated. But the material we were working with was so dry that it burned fast, hot and clean - very little smoke. Had you driven by our place it's unlikely you would have known what we were doing. Most of the time there was no smoke at all.

So we've made a start. There's still a lot yet to do, but we put a serious dent in it.

What happens when I wear out...

It's very windy today - sunny, but windy.  It's warm enough to open the windows and let the wind blow much-needed fresh air into the house (which has been closed up since about April, so we really need the fresh air).

George and Laka are taking turns in the loungeroom screaming at the wind.  They've been screaming about every 5 seconds for the last hour or so - with Kenny (the talking koala toy) dutifully replaying each and every burst.

There's nothing to do about George and Laka - but Kenny?  Time to remove the batteries...

What happens when the batteries wear out...

Laka continues to enjoy long-winded conversations with "Kenny".  She's even allowing George to get in a word here and there (initially she would shout George down if he dared to play with "her toy"). All was happiness in the loungeroom until the batteries ran out of juice. Then?  Oh... my...  Lots of full-volume complaints.

Thank heavens for rechargeable batteries.  We now have a spare set - charge up one set while the other is in use.  Keeps peace in the house, don't you know...

(Laka-Laka-Laka, Becker-Becker-Becker, Gimme Kiss, Hello?....)

Laka and "Kenny" the Talking Koala

Laka has to spend part of her day in a cage (she can't be allowed out unsupervised, not safe for her or the house...). Keeping her and George entertained is important to us.

Well... I think we've stumbled on the perfect macaw toy:

No Dirty Birds Around Here!

Regular bathing is important for companion birds, both for the hygiene and for the obvious enjoyment they get out of it.

It can take a while to introduce a parrot to a human shower. It has to be done gently, slowly, with lots of patience, but we've managed to do that with our birds. Laka and George enjoy a nice shower.  I partially fill a bucket with water and they stand on the edge of that (they like the sound of the water dripping into the bucket - gets them in the mood). As long as the water is a steady, gentle trickle, they're happy.

I've been wanting to get a video of Laka playing in the shower, but our old shower stall so horrible I was ashamed for anybody to see it. In April we had the bathroom redone and got a new glass-enclosed shower, but Laka copped an attitude and has been refusing to cooperate ever since. Instead of splashing and having fun, she's been sitting on the edge of the bucket and scowling at me (ever seen a parrot pout?). But suddenly she changed her mind - and here we are....SPLISH SPLASH!
I'm hoping she's turned a corner, and will get back to enjoying her shower more regularly.

What Happened In Chicago on Sept. 18

The folks from Tecoma who went to Chicago with the intent of delivering the "No Maccas" petition to McDonald's headquarters were finally successful.  They weren't invited in, but were met outside the office building by representatives of management.

The petition has been delivered!

Here's an interview with the leader of the delegation and an online report summarizing what happened.

(Update - there's a video of the meeting on Facebook. I haven't found it on YouTube or anywhere else yet, but expect it will show up there sooner or later.)

Tecoma Group in the News in the US

Apparently the protestors who headed to Chicago (with the goal of personally delivering the nearly 100,000 petition signatures to McDonald's home office) are there and making some news:

Here's a link to a Chicago area TV station's story

Will McDonald's execs meet with them tomorrow (Wednesday)?  I have my doubts, but boy, it sure would be great if they did.

A Me$$age 4 Ma¢¢a's

The fight in Tecoma against the building of a McDonald's continues - and now it's gone international.

Yesterday, Chicago TV station NBC News posted a story on their website about the arrival of a group of protestors from Tecoma.  They are there to meet with execs of McDonald's in the company's home office, and deliver a petition signed by over 93,000 people in support of their cause. The report doesn't say if McDonald's is actually going to cooperate with this, just that the group is there and going to try. The meeting (according to the news story) is supposed to happen next Wednesday.

Will it happen? Wouldn't it be lovely if the execs actually met with them and listened, let the people who've gone to so much trouble present their case? 

Yeah - I know I'm dreaming.

I wonder if McDonald's has an inkling of the bad publicity all this is giving them. But they're such a huge company they can afford to ignore it, I guess.

That Macca's on Burwood Highway is going to be a gold mine - tourists coming up from the city won't resist the temptation to stop and grab a fast burger. It's an ideal location and, yeah, it's gonna make a mint. Macca's is going to continue and press on. They're interested in their "bottom line", and if the furor over this store in Tecoma doesn't affect profits, they'll just continue to brush it aside.

There's a Facebook "event" page set up suggesting that people boycott McDonald's - all McDonald's, not just the one in Tecoma. So far there's just over 3,000 Facebook members who've marked "going" and another 300 who've said "maybe". I'm not sure how effective a boycott is if it's ongoing - is it being noticed?

I've been wondering why the protest organizers haven't tried a one-day boycott.  No signs, no placards, no flash mobs (although I agree there's a time and place for all those things - they are effective) - but instead just declare a "no Macca's day" in Melbourne and surrounds. And only for one day.  If enough people join in, it would surely be noticed. Of course there would be people who'd ignore the boycott, but if I'm right about the bad feeling this fight has stirred up, it would be interesting to send a clear message in a language they certainly understand.

Would that stop them from building that store in Tecoma? Probably not. But I still like the idea.

  Me$$age 4 Ma¢¢a's Day  

Voting

Last Saturday we had a federal election in Australia. As a new citizen of this country, I'd voted before - several months back there was a mail-in local election. Mail-in votes were allowed for this election, too, for those who wanted to go that route. For the rest of us, it meant turning up at a polling place and casting our ballot in person.

It was a very different experience from voting back in Ohio.  Let me explain.

When I was in the US, I lived in Reynoldsburg, Ohio - a suburb of Columbus (capital of that state). Voting in the US is optional, unlike Australia where every citizen is required to vote. In Ohio you are assigned a specific place to go for voting and when you turn up there's generally a queue, sometimes quite long. Because voting isn't required, those setting up the polling areas don't really know how many people are going to show up - and because voting is done on a week day, there are log jams of people before and after normal office hours.  I can remember times when I stood in line for well over an hour waiting for my turn, and can remember hearing many horror stories about people standing in line for hours. Voting there is done via an automated voting machine - a large boxy shaped metal cabinet where you flip levers next to the names of candidates or to indicate "yes" or "no" on issues up for voting. The cabinet is enclosed by a thick curtain which closes around you before you vote, and which is yanked back when you pull the large lever to lock your vote into position.

Here?  Very different experience.



As hubby Stephen and I approached the grammar school (our local polling place) we were greeted at the gateway to the school by a swarm of members of various parties, handing out little advertising sheets for their candidates, showing exactly how to mark your ballots. I was surprised to see them so close to the entrance and in such numbers (esp. for a tiny little village like ours). In the US they'd never have been allowed so close to a polling venue.

Inside the school we stood in a short line for, maybe, 15 minutes. Then I was directed up to one of two people who were registering voters. They looked up my name in a huge book and put a little mark next to it, indicating that I'd showed up as required.  Then I was handed two paper ballots: one a small green paper with the names of candidates for the House of Representatives on it and the other a very long white sheet used to record my vote for the Senate.  No technology involved - just paper and pencils (on strings which were secured to little polling stations).

Now it gets complicated.

On the green sheet I was to put a number next to each candidate (even the ones I didn't want), indicating how I ranked them (1 for preferred, 2 for next-preferred and so on). If I failed to give each candidate a unique ranking, my ballot would be declared invalid. There were only a few names, so it wasn't hard.

The Senate ballot, however, oh my.  The Senate ballot had all the candidates (nearly 100!) grouped by party. There were two ways to use the ballot.  You could either vote for the party (which involves just putting a "1" next to the party name) or individually - which involved ranking each and every individual candidate from "1" to "97" (yes... you read that right: 97 candidates for the Senate).  Certainly much easier to vote for the party and not individuals. 

Voters were reminded over and over that if you were to accidentally mess up your ballot, the folks running the venue would be happy to give you a new one so you could start over.

No curtains, no "secret booth", just little cardboard cubbies side-by-side, so that you were elbow-to-elbow with your neighbors marking your ballot.

After marking the ballots, voters were directed to deposit them in large cardboard boxes near the exit of the room. As I made my way to those boxes I heard a familiar voice calling to me and saw "Chris" - one of our local school crossing guards grinning at me (he was standing in line waiting his turn to vote). I changed course and quickly went over to him to give him a hug, ballots still in my hands. Then I suddenly realized what I was doing and for a second worried that I might have broken some kind of rule - but nobody batted an eye. I turned and went on to deposit my ballots and headed out the door, waving goodbye to Chris.

I've been voting in US elections for nearly 40 years and always felt it an important act, something to be taken seriously. It always gives me a great feeling of responsibility and participation. Voting here in Australia was just like that - but I have to admit that with the low-tech approach and the atmosphere, well, it really touched me. It felt more "organic" somehow... ...well, that's not quite the word I want, but it was a sense of accessible democracy.

Delena

We don't normally see huntsman spiders in winter. They are hibernating, or hiding, or maybe they just holiday up in Queensland, awaiting the spring. I don't know. I only know it's rare to see one much before October. But there we were the other night. It was a chilly day (50F) and rainy. I'd been thinking about the huntsmen and thinking how they'd be coming out in weather like that. We had just finished dinner - about 7:30'ish - and it was dark, rainy outside. The light on the deck outside the kitchen/dining room window was on, illuminating the deck, plants, and deck railing.

And then I saw it...

 ...slowly lowering itself down on a single line of silk...

...a smallish huntsman, maybe 3 inches across at most. I pointed just in time for Stephen to see it as it dropped to the level of the sashing between the upper and lower part of the window. And here she is, Delena cancerides:

...or at least I THINK this is a Delena cancerides.  Here's a closeup of the same photo:

Delena won't become a huge sumo wrestler like "Wolfgang" - but she'll be a respectable size, all the same. Actually, I think she's kind of pretty, really, reddish body hanging on to the green window frame.

A sure sign of spring - but, again, a little early.  

Winter

August is late-winter in Australia.  It doesn't get as cold here as it does in Ohio, but even so you do feel the chill on days when the wind is blowing rain here on the mountain.  The photo below was taken last Friday afternoon - when it was about 10C (roughly 50F or so).

I

(Double-click the photo above to view a larger image)

What looks like fog in this photo is actually a cloud rolling slowly through the yard.  It's a beautiful thing to watch - swirls of mist rising, thickening, and then moving on.  When you are standing in a cloud you can feel the fine, sweet dampness gently caressing your face.  Breathing in the moisture-laden air is just heavenly, especially because the gums release their freshest fragrance when it rains.

Winter here can be chilly, but it has a kind of gentleness to it.

Gum Trees and High Winds Don't Mix

We've had several days of high winds here - and there has been some excitement with the trees as a result. A very strong windstorm came through on Friday night and the next morning we found this:

(Doubleclick the photo above for a larger image)

A tree above the road had fallen and landed right on the electric wires running to houses on our street. The wires didn't snap, thank heavens, but boy... it didn't look terribly safe.

I rang emergency services to report what had happened, and they forwarded the report to the electric company, saying that situations like this need to be attended to by them (makes total sense to me).  With the sheer volume of calls to them, I was told it would be quite a while before someone would come. 

Only 15 minutes or so later, however, I heard the sound of a chainsaw and looked out to see one of our neighbors carefully slicing at the tree. He was using a chainsaw on a long pole. Bit by bit he cut away the top of it (on the right side in this photo), cutting off 8 inches at a time. Once he was close to the wire, he moved to the left side of the wire and cut through the trunk.  The wire sprung upward, no longer held down by the heavy tree.

The wind continues to howl...