Yet, on the upside we'll see more sky, right?
Our theme hits home for me. We have every contractor thinkable, from private contractors to Dakota County construction crews, both electric and telephone crews, all digging up our property and soon our street. It's a busy, fast paced county road in the process of being widened and turn lanes installed in the hopes of improving safety and congestion. But with these changes come many issues. Some of which have already occurred just this week.
First to go are the overhead utility poles
Sepia Saturday is discussing this week.
They're gone, replaced with underground wires.
Our theme hits home for me. We have every contractor thinkable, from private contractors to Dakota County construction crews, both electric and telephone crews, all digging up our property and soon our street. It's a busy, fast paced county road in the process of being widened and turn lanes installed in the hopes of improving safety and congestion. But with these changes come many issues. Some of which have already occurred just this week.
First to go are the overhead utility poles
Sepia Saturday is discussing this week.
They're gone, replaced with underground wires.
Bark, bark, bARK, go my three dogs in unison having a front row seat to all the action from our living room window.
SEPIA SATURDAY
In a dusty boardroom with utility layouts and conference tables set aside for the meeting of minds, the removal of utility wires, cables and poles is the subject at hand.
The jaws of power that once connected overhead to our houses and other buildings will if not presently, be a thing of the past.
Photos begin in Georgetown, MA and travel to Richmond, Providence County, RI
From Georgetown, MA
The simple truth is utility poles such as these are for the most part obsolete.
Oh no, we won't be able to decorate utility poles such as this.
"Can there be a higher desire than to change the world? Not to draw Utopian blueprints, but really to order change? To revise the misshapen, reshape the mistaken, to justify the margins of this ragged error of a universe? - Gregory Maguire
BUT! Leave the land lines installed, please.
In a dusty boardroom with utility layouts and conference tables set aside for the meeting of minds, the removal of utility wires, cables and poles is the subject at hand.
The jaws of power that once connected overhead to our houses and other buildings will if not presently, be a thing of the past.
Photos begin in Georgetown, MA and travel to Richmond, Providence County, RI
You'd think these utility poles would survive much longer, but progress engages in a hasty pace, remove and replace.
The simple truth is utility poles such as these are for the most part obsolete.
I'm not saying that change and progress is a bad thing, but I am against the removal of our land line (yes we have cell phones too) but there are many purposes to having a land line in our house.
So far, it's just rumors out in the work zone around our house.
People enjoy stirring the pot sometimes!
Isn't this old Puck cover just hilarious?
"Can there be a higher desire than to change the world? Not to draw Utopian blueprints, but really to order change? To revise the misshapen, reshape the mistaken, to justify the margins of this ragged error of a universe? - Gregory Maguire
BUT! Leave the land lines installed, please.
24 comments:
i hate the upheaval of construction work. good luck!
Theresa, Oh me too. I'm learning far too quickly. When the phone is out no internet for me! And I can't leave messages on my land line that play so my dogs can hear when I call! That's horrible!
And you are right---where will the sneakers hang.
We've had underground wiring and it works well. But I do not like construction lingering for long.
MB
My parents brought a vacant lot next door so we would have places to play as kids... We were playing football one day and my brother's punt hit the bottom wire that touched the others and we had a wild electical show (and then no power for four hours, until they could replace the blown transformer). That would never happen where I live because all the utilities are in the ground (but if you're a backhoe operator, be careful!)
The wires will never disappear here - too expensive! The land line always seems to work even when electricity is out and cellphone batteries have died.
Years ago they came & ripped up the street in front of our house in order to smooth out a big hump in the middle of it. It took a week with big machinery making a LOT of noise! We had a parakeet whose cage sat in the front bay window. After the street was done & all the machinery was gone, we still heard the machinery noises because Tweety had picked up those sounds & mimicked them - quite accurately, too! :) Underground lines are nice - both esthetically, & because it's nice, when the wind shrieks & the rain, hail, & snow fall heavily, you don't have to worry about the lines going down & losing power! Land line phones are still desirable, however, for safety reasons.
construction....i really despise it!!! all our utilities are underground, it sure is best when we have storms but during superstorm sandy we were without power for 9 days. but in "normal" storms we are good!!!
have a happy weekend!!!
Goodness, that sounds like it's going to be quite a mess for a while. Good luck! Great black and white photos and I did laugh at that last one.
Life seems to always be bringing changes, including the wiring of phones. One option in our area is to do internet and phone with fiber-optic cables. THey are supposed to be pretty good, but I haven't tried them myself.
Underground power lines should be the choice. Otherwise there can be lots of interference with everyday life! Nicely Karen!
Hank
I iwhs our power lines would go underground! It looks so much nicer and is best when there are storms.. But, it cost too much! I hope it goes quickly for you! Have a happy day!
uh oh...the construction crews...once they get there, it seems like their work drags on and on...and on...AND on.
good luck with that!
we still have power poles here. i don't think they could ever get rid of them...how would the squirrels cross the road, where would the high-wire birds hang out...what would happen to all the hanging sneakers...and so on!! :)
Funny, Karen. At my dad's house in D.C., they've been replacing the overhead poles with new overhead poles. And the old ones didn't even seem to need it.
~
After so many years of living in rural New Hampshire, we noticed people began moving north from Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut. The first thing they did was level trees and pave roads. They called it progress, but it was and is disgusting. Yes, they installed underground phone lines over ten years, but the lasting damage to the surrounding environment changed everything about the state. If you want Massachusetts, stay there!
Interestingly enough, someone in NJ has been decorating the utility poles along a section of Route 23 for years and years. It's a little bit of a local legend and the utility companies have never bothered taking them down!
https://lostinjersey.wordpress.com/2009/03/19/pole-art-of-route-23/
Living in a tinder box in California, we would give anything to have our wires buried. You'd think it would be incredibly cost efficient considering what the fires, caused by downed lines, cost our state. Every time the Santa Ana winds begin to blow around here we all get nervous as cats and pack up boxes with our treasures (sepia photos) in case of evacuation.
Not only do we still have a landline, but a phone that doesn't need power to operate, so when there's a power cut, we can still use it.
I'm not a big fan of utility poles and lines (esp. the lines; I don't mind the poles, and the woodpeckers love them), but I do hate construction work that goes on for ever and is super noisy. I wouldn't want to give up our landline either.
The first telegraph wire networks must have been very unsettling to our ancestors. Then electric, telephone, cable, cellphone towers. A future without that visible grid of overhead lines seems magical.
Underground power lines definitely have their advantages, but are much easier to install initially, ie. in new sub-divisions, rather than established suburbs where they create chaos. Hopefully it will be worthwhile for you in the long run!
Just last week, a ROTTEN utility pole fell on a 6-yr old kid in my city. I imagine there are many such poles that need more frequent inspection. (By the way, the child will be fine but he does have some broken ribs and other injuries.)
I get so angry when AT&T talks about getting rid of land lines. It makes me furious on so many levels. For those of us who live in rural areas the idea is simply stupid. Cell coverage is spotty at best. And frankly I hate the idea of always having to upgrade my telephone with new software, new hardware, security problems. And when the power goes out and you can't get it charged. And then there's the little matter of the money the government gave the phone companies years ago who promised to create an amazing infrastructure for wireless…arggghhh!
I'd put up with the inconvenience of construction to get rid of the power lines. But it will never happen here, we are too remote, it would be a great expense for so few residents. Living without power occasionally when there are storms is just something we come to accept. The main reason I dislike the overhead lines is they constantly get in my photos. I'm so used to them I don't see them when I'm taking the shot and then get cross with myself when I see the photo.
"progress engages in a hasty pace, remove and replace" is a poetic line!
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