Day One Hundred and Thirty-Nine

The Balancing Act

How 'bout NO! Unharnessed and without any sort of safety catch, these men climbed three stories to prune palm trees. Uh, what? This is out of control. And what's more? The man on the left has a chain saw in his left hand, a ladder in his right hand, one foot steady, and the other dangling mid-air as a counter balance. All for an aesthetic appeal that seems, at least to me, a bit overrated. I just feel like there's something severely wrong with this picture. 

We live in a beautiful and small community of multi-storied condominiums and apartments. The Home Owner's Association is run by a management company that hires men in blue shirts to "keep up" the grounds. I didn't realized it was a part of their job description to put their lives in danger...and I don't much approve of the HOA after today either. The men work daily around the complexes, pruning every bush, leaf-blowing every stray foliage, mowing the grass, power washing the buildings, and anything else imaginable to keep up the appeal of this neighborhood. It's unbelievable, really. Almost every morning, we are woken up by their noisy machines outside our windows. And this is no exaggeration: there are men with similar employment who we've seen grooming the side of the freeway.
We live in a special city, indeed. One that takes tremendous pride in the cleanliness of its surroundings. We feel blessed to live here, but after after today, I might have a word or two with the men's bosses. And I'll stress the importance of safety harnesses, or at least something like it. Sheesh.

Oh, and an update on the debit card fraud: we've already recuperated the lost funds. We visited the police department today, but left without the police report we had intended to file. Turns out that the local police don't deal with online fraud. As we understood, there's very little anyone can do to curb the "appeal" of this type of scam. Bummer. We were hoping that the criminal would be caught before he went on committing more crimes against hard-earned income. And so, we did the next best thing and spent some of our day at Chase, talking with the banker about the safety of our account and available options if this were to happen again. We're feeling relieved. But I think the unease will follow us like a shadow for good.