About to walk down my front steps on Friday afternoon, I heard a sound
like crumpling paper, nothing tearing or creaking, just light crinkling
with perhaps a final soft whoosh!!!!!!
I looked up and there it was, half of an old and stately oak, lying across
the neighbors' garden. Thankfully not even a twig hit the roof or front porch.
A small cherry tree was damaged, but the mailbox still stood beneath the shower
of leaves and acorns.
The best part was neither of their two vehicles were in the driveway - they were
gone, out of town, to be married in a country wedding on Saturday.
Bob and I stood outside just two days before this occurred, looking at the
trees around our house and across the street, noting the leaning one.
This was once the country, a farm stood here until the 1960's when the
neighborhood was developed. The trees are old, large and beautiful. Many
have been taken down for safety's sake, several fell during major hurricanes
in the past 18 years. We required a new roof, and a new car, thanks to
Hurricane Fran coming inland packing 115 mph winds in the middle of
that terrifying night in September 1996.
We did discuss the leaning tree across the way, thankful for the lack of hurricanes
so far this season. . . . . but I swear I didn't put a hex on it!
Are you surrounded by large, old trees?
Do you worry about trees falling on your property?
I worry when the winds are high, but never really thought about a sturdy tree
just quietly falling right in front of my eyes.
I was glad that I, or anyone else, wasn't driving up the street or walking underneath,
and that there was no serious damage to anything. The fallen part was removed
yesterday, however I'm hoping the owner of the property decides to take down
the remainder of the leaning tree soon. . . . .just in case!
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It's very sad when an old tree falls down. We had a huge maple just keel over (it was thankfully, down on the parkway near the street). It had always had so many squirrels scrambling around, up and down, in and out. I believe it just became hollow! lol! Our property is completely surrounded by old trees, so when we lost this one we had a big gaping space where the morning sun poured into the house. I could clearly see the neighbor's home across the street. I was so sad and missed that tree, and nothing could replace something that old and majestic.
ReplyDeleteSorry for the rambling. This was a good 10 years ago and I'm pretty much over it. Sniff!
Jane xx
It;s always sad to see an established tree come down. Wonderful that no one was hurt.
ReplyDeleteWith last year's ice storm in my hometown of Toronto, many beautiful trees came crashing down, first on to electrical wires, which caused those massive power shortages, and then onto the cold, snow covered ground. So very sad.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad no one was hurt, Mary.
Have a wonderful week!
Hugs,
Poppy
Oh My! I am always so sad to see a big beautiful tree fall or die.
ReplyDeleteYou have seen our huge tree in the back yard. A couple years ago
we had several large branches that hung over our roof removed just
for this reason. The tree drops small branches often, but they don't
do any damage. I was relieved to see those branches go. That must
have been quite a clean up with the owners away.
Hugs and praying no more trees or hurricanes come along for you, m
Wow, that was a close call for your neighbours. It's a good thing they were away. I definitely think the rest of the tree needs to come down too. We didn't lose any trees in the big tropical storm in July this year but our neighbours sure did, if you recall my post about it. Our maples are huge but quite sturdy (I hope). I'm glad no one was injured nor was there property damage for you. Have a great week.
ReplyDeleteWe have all kinds of older tall pine trees in our yard, and we have leaners. A couple years ago I went to get the mail and looked farther down on our property A tree had fallen from our yard across the roadway blocking the entire neighborhood. I called our township and they were here right away. They chopped up that old tree and hauled it all away. It is so expensive to cut trees down. Our neighbors cut out about 10 this year. All of a sudden we have more light. It's funny because one of our neighbor's had noticed this tree really leaning the morning of the fall.
ReplyDeleteGoodness! Old trees need care and sometimes need to be removed for safety. I'm glad nothing untoward happened. There are few large old trees in our neighbourhood as it was once a farm, with orchards and pastures.
ReplyDeleteI just love large, old trees. Alas, we don't have any here, though a neighbor a few doors down does have one very large tree in his back yard. I hate it when they fall or have to be taken out. Thank goodness these people's cars were not there, and it didn't hit their roof!
ReplyDeleteWe are surrounded by very tall trees - some over 50 feet tall. Last summer the tree company came and took out a lot of trees - they took out 14 in the area just across the street (we live on a corner) from our house. The trees grow in an easement between the city and the county and no one can ever cut the trees for building on the land - but there were a lot of leaning trees and I'm glad they came and took care of it.We have noticed that we get sun a lot sooner in the spring - and more during the longer days of summer and even some in the late afternoon on the deck, that we never got before. It is quite pleasant to have more sunshine. I do "worry" a bit about some of the other taller trees but I think the tree company did a good job.
ReplyDeleteCrumbs - that was a bit too close! No one wants to cut down a beautiful old tree that is a little too close to a house - and has maybe been there since before the house was built - but many people thoughtlessly plant what will become large trees where they may cause problems. Bonkers! Fortunately, we don't have any impending problem in that regard - though I have got a T-Shirt from previous experience!
ReplyDeleteIt looks like the one still standing has been broken and leaning a bit too much! Thank goodness nobody was hurt and no property damage. Yes, we have large trees in the back yard, and I do worry about them when the weather gets frightful. We are supposed to get bad storms with high winds tomorrow, so worry, worry, worry. It's all part of the gamble of having trees anywhere close to your house!
ReplyDeleteWow! So glad nothing got hurt! We do have a few trees around us and we always worry when the wind blows.
ReplyDeletexoxox
P
I have a State Forest as my back yard. Thankfully they tend to it well, there are mostly pines along the perimeter of our property .. they can withstand the winds much better than those huge leafy trees ( that I love). During the last hurricane, one pine fell ... into the forest, away from the buildings .. very thoughtful.
ReplyDelete