UH-OH!!

[sm4him]

Had a really bad storm blow through tonight. Hail, wind that was bending my trees over backwards and RAIN like crazy...I have NEVER seen that much rain here in that short a time. (To be fair, when we had the tornado and hail storm in April 2011, I was at church when the worst part hit, so I don't know what it was like at my house. Judging from the fact that it broke all the storm windows, I'm guessing it was worse than today...)

Anyway, after it stopped--and after I mopped up all the water that came up over the patio threshold and into my kitchen!--I went out to survey the damage. I have one particular tree that has been falling down in pieces; seems like every big storm brings another great big branch down (some of these branches are as big as a medium-size tree).

Sure enough, the biggest, and lowest, remaining branch has cracked--it's not all the way down, but it's hanging WAY down close to the ground. If it HAD fallen, it would have likely taken the hood of my car with it. I went out and moved the car so that if it falls during the night it'll be okay, and that's what I saw it...

An even larger tree in the back corner of the yard, a Catalpa tree. It straddles the property line, with most of the trunk in the neighbor's yard. Almost ALL of the branches on my side are down.

And here's the real "Uh-Oh" part--judging from the frenzied chirping I heard, I'm guessing the branches took more than one bird nest down with them. :sad anim:

I'll go out in the morning and see if I can determine whether there were any casualties. I sure hope not!

 

[DarkShadow]

Scary all the storms lately.I think mother nature is angry and sending her wrath.I Wish the best for a our feather friends.

 

[runnah]

got the saw gassed up and nice and sharp.

 

[480sparky]

Have you been buying Chiffon margarine?

 

[sm4him]

got the saw gassed up and nice and sharp.

Go get a good night's sleep, runnah. If you leave early in the morning, you should be able to get here sometime early on Wednesday and start cutting this stuff up. :lmao:

Does anybody know if you can burn Catalpa wood okay in a fireplace?

 

[sm4him]

Have you been buying Chiffon margarine?

Oh my, I *remember* that commercial!! How sad is that?? :lmao:
But yeah, I think clearly SOMEONE is trying to tell SOMETHING lately...

 

[snowbear]

Does anybody know if you can burn Catalpa wood okay in a fireplace?

I can't find anything on that - it is resistant to rot and has been used as fence posts. Any woodworkers nearby?

 

[esselle]

Lots of bizarre weather lately and dangerous; I'm glad you are okay. And I hope those birds are too.

 

[terri]

I saw the news earlier and they mentioned a VERY nasty storm heading your way, and I thought about you! Sure enough, you got pummeled. I'm glad you and your family are safe, and no damage to the house! So sorry to read about the huge tree, though - and it sounds like some wildlife may have been impacted. Keep us posted!

 

[Tiller]

We also got a very large storm tonight. Glad you're safe and no major damage. Lets hope for the best for the birds!

 

[sm4him]

UPDATE: Thanks everyone for your comments!

I went out this morning to assess the situation. It's a bit worse than I thought. It wasn't the Catalpa tree at all. It was the ENTIRE top of the tree up next to the driveway (the one I mentioned earlier that constantly drops branches). All that is left of that tree is the one branch on my side, hanging about 6 feet from the ground, and one big branch hanging ominously over my neighbor's house...and the trunk, up to those two branches. All the rest of it came down, and took part of the Catalpa tree with it.

But the "worse" part is that it ALSO took out my neighbor's fence. It was a tall wooden-slat type fence, and it's GONE, splintered everywhere. A great big part of the tree is also in their yard. Fortunately, it fell back not forward, so no damage to any houses or cars.

I went down to TRY to see if there were any bird nests and how they fared. But it's too big a mess to really even get at it--I can't get close enough to the parts of it where there might be nests to try to find them. Besides, I'd probably get attacked. There are probably a dozen or more birds hopping frantically all over the fallen tree, so I feel certain that there ARE some nests in there.

Looked around as much as I could and didn't see any little birds on the ground anywhere, so that's a good sign at least. But of course, they could be UNDER all that tree.

When it gets lighter, I'll try to get a few pictures.

 

[esselle]

Wow that is some storm to take down your neighbor's fence! I'm glad you are ok though. As for the birds, I'm thinking they somehow fled. Animals are pretty resilient ...well, I'm hoping so, anyways. Be safe!

 

[runnah]

I suggest suing your neighbor for having a substandard fence that damaged your tree.

 

[baturn]

Glad that you and your neighbours and your property are all OK, but can't help thinking there are photo opportunities in this. Just be wary of unstable trees, branches,etc.

 

[Derrel]

Sooo glad that your car was not damaged by the tree! I often feel sorry for the folks who live in storm-prone areas. It's just such an odd thing to lose property and lives due to...weather... So sad.