The North 40

I'm not sure what you call these orange things: flags, banners, markers of some sort. We saw them last week when we drove over the hill for our outing, and I tried to fit them into my known world by deciding they were some kind of protection for the orchard at the side of the freeway. Maybe something to do with birds. Or sun. It almost looks like those nets they put up near ballfields or golf courses to contain the wild shots. It turns out it has to do with development. The orange flags are markers for new buildings that are to be constructed on this 40 acre parcel. They are indicators of the size and height of the proposed structures. Multi-use multi-story development, meeting the needs of today and tomorrow without forgetting yesteryear.  Urp. What will be forgotten is this orchard, one of the last remnants of what used to be an entire valley of fruit trees. This is just a glimpse of the massive scale of this project, taken from a moving vehicle (by the passenger, btw). I was appalled. I kept saying, "But there are trees there, and homes."  They call it The North 40, presumably to honor its agrarian roots. 

By an odd coincidence it turns out my son's office is in one of the structures that will be destroyed, which is how I learned about all this. 

The Extra shows a little more of the orchard, but the flags are harder to see against the light. They are everywhere.