Tree-be-gone

It's sort of like the old Reeses Peanut Butter Cup advertisements - the "you got chocolate on my peanut butter, you got peanut butter on my chocolate" ones - except with silicon and pine needles.

Mark Vargas installs a crapload of solar cells on his house and then tells his neighbors Richard Treanor and Carolynn Bissett "your trees are shading my solar cells, you need to cut them down. And sadly, he wins.

Don't get me wrong, I think it's great that Mr. Vargas installed solar cells on his home. It's a noble gesture on his part. And he apparently drives an electric car. And you gave $250 to the Arbor Day Foundation, you rock. Bravo.

But, really, your house apparently has five bedrooms (amusingly enough, zillow.com thinks you only have three, who is right - are you cheating on your taxes Mr. Vargas?). Do you really need that many? The Brady Bunch got by with four bedrooms and there were nine people living in the house.

Have you considered going after whomever installed your solar panels and asking them what they were thinking by installing the panels near trees which would obviously grow one day? Perhaps you and your installer knew this going an and also knew that the law would be on your side?

On the other hand, there's Richard and Carolynn. You're to be commended - you've shelled out $37,000 to protect your trees. But your house is worth over $1M according to zillow.com, so maybe you've got the money. One thing I was wondering though - you're concerned for the environment - what's with the lawn? It looks like you've got quite the well-manicured lawn there. What're you watering it with? If you really cared about the environment, wouldn't you have something just a bit more eco-friendly?