Dodging a bullet

[ziggy29]

(or a big, dead tree).

I noticed a few days ago that this one wasn't budding so I was increasingly suspecting that the tree was killed by last year's drought. If it didn't "perform" soon, I was planning to get it removed.

But overnight we had some rain, some lightning and some wind. A LOT of wind. And here was the result. Had it fallen the other way it would have crashed right into the corner of the house -- and that corner is our bedroom where I was sleeping. So I'm not looking forward to long dates with a chain saw and hauling it off or paying someone to get rid of it... but mostly feeling fortunate and blessed that it fell the "other way."

 

[toofrugalformycat]

Wow, congratulations on the good bad luck, or the bad good luck, or whatever you call it.

 

[ziggy29]

Wow, congratulations on the good bad luck, or the bad good luck, or whatever you call it.

Thanks. I think the glass is 7/8 full and 1/8 empty on this one.

 

[REWahoo]

You are lucky.

Many years ago a friend had a 70' pine tree blow over on his house in the middle of the night. A big splintered limb came though his bedroom window, spearing a large hole in the floor less than three feet from where he was sleeping. He said it was disturbing.

Is that a large pomegranate tree on the left in your photo?

 

[ziggy29]

Is that a large pomegranate tree on the left in your photo?

Not sure. Might be, as it has sometimes produced small red fruity-looking orbs but nothing larger than a jawbreaker.

 

[W2R]

Wow!! Glad you're OK. That tree looks heavy (or it would be if it had landed on you while you were asleep).

 

[FIREd]

Glad it didn't fall on your house zig!!! Lucky, lucky, lucky...

 

[bbbamI]

Gadzooks! That is one piece of wood NOT desired in the bedroom.

Glad everything is ok....

 

[bssc]

Glad you are OK. My SIL had a tree hit the house. Then they found asbestos insulation. You did dodge a bullet.

 

[REWahoo]

Glad you are OK. My SIL had a tree hit the house. Then they found asbestos insulation. You did dodge a bullet.

Who would have thought they used asbestos insulation in trees? No wonder the ivory billed woodpecker is almost extinct!

 

[travelover]

Your post has made me nervous. I've got a pretty large elm just behind the house that has died and I have been procrastinating getting it topped or felled. Time to get out the pros, as there is no way I'm climbing and sawing.

 

[Amethyst]

Ziggy, I really like the stone siding on your house.

When we moved here 20 years ago, there were no trees, so we planted lots of them. Now the faster-growing ones (Bradford pear, silver maple) are reaching their blow-down date (we would not have planted them, had we known how prone they were to being....prone). With tree removal prices in our area starting around $1500.00 (notice I said starting), it pays us to buy one new chain saw and wear it out on each tree, then rent a truck to haul the branches away.

Amethyst

 

[tuixiu]

Ziggy, I really like the stone siding on your house.

That's the first thing that caught my eye too.

Screw the tree, look at that cool facade!

 

[ziggy29]

Ziggy, I really like the stone siding on your house.

When we moved here 20 years ago, there were no trees, so we planted lots of them. Now the faster-growing ones (Bradford pear, silver maple) are reaching their blow-down date (we would not have planted them, had we known how prone they were to being....prone). With tree removal prices in our area starting around $1500.00 (notice I said starting), it pays us to buy one new chain saw and wear it out on each tree, then rent a truck to haul the branches away.

Thanks. The stone and the archwork is what we really liked about this place. It was built in 1944 from locally quarried stone, so I'm told. I would prefer it a little larger, but it's fine for now.

We know someone who lives nearby who does a lot of odd jobs and yard work type stuff, and he does a fair bit of tree trimming and removal. I've arranged for him to cut it up and haul away the dead wood for $100 (plus the wood). Supposedly he'll get to that in the next few days. I could do it but I don't have a big enough chain saw (I have a small, cheap 18" chain saw which I don't think is up for this task), and I don't have a big truck to haul it off to a woodpile (we don't have a fireplace or wood stove anyway so I can use the firewood as part of the payment). So it's probably just more efficient to ignore my inner cheapskate this time and pay to have it hauled off, knowing the wood itself is like money to someone who can use it.

 

[FIREd]

I spent the morning clearing up MIL's yard. The big storm that rolled through the area yesterday really did a number on her trees. It damaged a cypress tree, which I had to cut down, and a huge, heavy limb fell down from about 30 feet up, missing her house by only 1 foot or so. It took me about 1 hour to dispatch the trees with my chainsaw and another hour hauling the whole thing to the curb.

 

[Orchidflower]

Neat rock house! Love those kinds of homes, Ziggy29! Cool!
Glad you missed having the tree in bed with you, tho.

 

[audreyh1]

That stonework is a reproduction of the early German settler style of stonework in the Texas Hill Country. I learned that from the Ladybird Johnson Wildflower Center in Austin - they have several buildings exhibiting early TX architectural styles.

Audrey

 

[W2R]

In southern Missouri, there is a similar (but not identical) style of architecture. Many of the oldest houses are made of rock and I am told that was because there was so much rock in the soil. Missourians dug up the rocks, built houses out of them, and then farmed. Tough, hardworking folks. I'd have given up and kept moving west until I found a place to live with fewer rocks. The rock houses are beautiful, though, as is Ziggy29's house.

 

[Orchidflower]

Arkansas around Little Rock/Conway, anyway, which is the only area I know is loaded with rock houses. I always loved the look of them....so unique. Must be the same as in Missouri I should think.

 

[ziggy29]

The thing is gone now, in a lot of pieces on the side of a neighbor's house. Since it got into the upper 80s today, that was money well spent.

I just have a new crater in the yard to fill now.

 

[Orchidflower]

Well, considering the poor people who got wiped out in Mississippi today by a tornado, I'm sure we're all just glad you and family are okay. Anything else is up from that!