Changing landscape--literally

 We moved into our home over 20 years ago.  One of the nicest parts has always been the privacy behind our home.  We live in a rural area not too far outside the city limits of our small town.  We only have a small piece of land, but behind us was pastureland that was empty most of the time and a wooded area.  It was gorgeous.  We live in a corner of our neighborhood and I've always thought we had the nicest backyard.  Not fancy.  We don't have a pool like most of the other homes.  But because we had this nicely shaded, private area behind our home.  

And then a few weeks ago, the landowner behind us decided it was time to rip it all down.  And I mean ALL.  There was no select-cutting, which I can get behind because it can be good for the biodiversity of the land.  No, pretty much every tree is gone now.  And to get the huge machinery onto his land, the owner needed to go through the adjoining landowner's land.  They allowed it, and her land was also cleared.  

Now it's empty land with huge piles of tree limbs they bulldozed together and set on fire.  That was a lot of fun, let me tell you.  Smoke that choked us for days.  Word in the neighborhood is that the owner wanted to make more room for his horses.  

Meanwhile, now the squirrel nests that were in those trees are gone, the birds have lost a lot of their roosting spots, and we don't see deer roaming through the woods since there are, in fact, no woods.

Is it his right to do what he wants with his land?  Yes.  Am I changing anything about my life because of it? That's a big ol' no.  I'm still going to treat it as if I have the same privacy as before.  His house is a long way off from ours.  

We are also planning to plant several trees in the spring along our fence line.  In a few years we should have a little more shade back and new areas for wildlife.  I'm still feeding the birds and the squirrels and we will be putting up more birdhouses in the spring as well.  

The owner, by the way, is a judge who was a former MAGA politician. Maybe I need a big progressive flag to hang from my backyard.  Give him something to look at.