If a tree falls

[Guest Braud Spectrum]

I was hosing off the deck to remove sawdust from a completed project. A walkway/bridge around and over the pool. Finally got my brother in law over here to help frame it up. A retrofit and he's good at that stuff....turned out beautiful. So I continued down the stairs watering my plants and got to the driveway beside the shop and I heard a great big creak pop noise. I looked up from my watering to see what that loud noise was... :hmmmm thought it sounded familiar...like a tree limb ripping away but didn't see anything out of the ordinary so deduced someone behind the back fence at the end of the driveway must have made the noise. A minute or so goes by and I heard it again and once again looked back at the end of the driveway and again up in this humongous 100 year old oak tree where the noise came from. The whole tree is so big around two people could try to wrap around it and join hands and not touch fingers. It's at least a hundred feet tall. Any one of it's branches would take out a house all the way around whichever way it fell.... even tho it's on the back yard property line. Not my tree but in the corner of my lot and much of it's trunk is actually on my corner. It's lost branches before and one crushed the top of my Mom's car...another time one of it's limbs smashed in the bed of my X's truck ....I thought to myself..."Boy I sure hope it isn't ...." Next thing I heard was a loud crack and right before my eyes an entire HUGE branch (the size of a normal tree) ripped off the side of the Oak tree and took out my fence and the tree right behind the shop and landed in the guy behind the shops yard and smashed a car. I watched it fall ! It was nearly like slow motion because the branch was as big as a tree. I don't think the shop has much damage to the roof altho it's hard to see with all the branches all over it. I was visualizing my shop being crushed and my truck in it. Thank God it didn't fall towards where I was standing on the edge of the patio at the time watering across the driveway at those plants up against the fence. Four houses down the neighbors heard it and all came running out. My daughter thought something had happened to me and came tearing out of the house. It was really loud. Then the crushing of my fence and my tree behind the shop being ripped apart by the branch that fell made lots of racket. I stood there for a minute thanking the Lord and saying "crap" over and over. My 4 X 8 plywood sign that hung on the fence is upside down in the driveway and has a dozen or so lizards all over it that were either dead, fixing to be ...or in shock crawling around in what seemed like a daze. They must have been living behind it. No one was hurt but the guy with the car that was crushed sure was hollering and screaming in agony.

I've always worried that if a storm got that tree it would destroy my whole house and the shop if it blew over in my direction. During storms I see huge oaks uprooted like that...It's one branch did unbelieveble damage.

I'm gonna get my sister to come over tomorrow and take some pics.

[Guest Blade]

Wow BS. That's crazy. Glad things (for the most part) are okay.

[Texastintchick]

Man I am glad you are OK!

TTC

[Mdog]

GEEEEEEzus

[Guest Braud Spectrum]

I'm glad I'm OK too. I betcha I said Crap half a dozen times. Then I'd hear it off in the distance when some other neighbor got close to survey the damage.

I already know what the insurance is going to say. It's not my tree. The neighbor whos tree it might be's insurance would on ly fix his stuff and it fell away from his property. It's right on the corner of four properties. Poor guy with the car, he's a renter in the building behind me. I wonder if he has full coverage. I can fix the fence. Only about 10 board are completely ruined the rest is leaning but fixable. Not worth claiming. The tree the branch tore up will need to be removed. That is mine. It happened just at dusk so I'm hoping in the light of day the shop roof will be no worse than it looks. It's a tin roof and one piece of tim along the edge may be buggered up. What a mess it made.

[skittles15]

Jeebus good thing nobody was hurt

[Guest Meff]

Glad your not hurt and your daughter is ok. Time to chop the big tree down. (IMO)

[Guest Braud Spectrum]

Glad your not hurt and your daughter is ok. Time to chop the big tree down. (IMO)

Yeah...me too.

I'm afraid it needs to come down. There was a neighbor from a couple doors down looking who happens to work for a tree service who said that too. It's heavy and off balanced on the other side now. Next rain when that side gets soaked and heavy it might loose it's footing and go the other way. Plus it was pretty rotten and kinda mealy looking in the crotch and on the ripped off part of the limb that fell. It was attached fairly low (only about 15 feet off the ground) and I can almost see in the hole it left...looks dark and weak in there. I hate to loose that old tree as it gave me plenty of great shade in the shop and really was a beautiful old tree. Nearly every one that sees it comments on how huge it is. Dozens of squirrels racing around all over it.

[Guest DixieGraphics]

wow! glad you're ok!

[Guest TINTFXold]

when trees get that tall and that old its a PROMISE from mother nature that limbs will break do to the weight that gravitiy is putting on the tree. The only way to avoid such potential disasters such as your inciddent, BS, is to trim limbs regulalry or (in your case ecspecially) cut the tree down.

A tree that big in a resedential area is a death wish.