We had a slambang of a thunderstorm this evening (Monday). It started with far-off thunder, that got closer and louder as the afternoon wore on. When the thunder started to shake the house, Miss Thunderfoot headed for the basement.
We got very bad wind before the rain. The trees in the woods were bent over at right angles in their middles, and those are black locusts. They don't bend all that easily. And they weren't whipping. They bent and stayed that way!
When the rain came, it was so dense I couldn't see the trees at all anymore, and they're only maybe 12 feet from the bathroom windows.
The whole show lasted less than an hour, after which I went out to survey the damage.
Three trees have broken about 15 feet up. Two of them, a black locust and a wild cherry, have their upper 2/3s lying across the driveway. The third is the big tree down by the road. The top half of that one is hanging down its trunk. (It's too bad it stayed attached at the break. If it had fallen onto the street, the town would clean it up for free.) A young locust (maybe 12-14 feet tall) near the bottom of the driveway is partially uprooted and leaning across the driveway. There are broken branches on the ground all over the yard.
That's just the stuff on the "lawn". There's probably a lot more trees down in the woods. I saw some suspiciously open areas in the greenery.
I made a halfhearted attempt to drag the trees off the driveway, but they wouldn't budge. Doesn't surprise me. I suspect 30 feet of black locust is rather heavy. I can still get out, if I have to, by driving across the grass, around the branches, but I'm expecting delivery of a large package soon, and I'm not sure I want the UPS truck on the lawn. I'm sure if he sees my tracks in the grass, he'll figure he can do it too. (Hmmm - just realized he probably won't get past the uprooted tree leaning across the drive at the bottom. Ne'mind....)
A thought - most of these trees have been here for 80 years or more. In the first 10 years Jay was in this house, no trees fell. In the last 10 years, since I moved in, this lot has lost 27 trees (not to mention those damaged, or those that fell in the woods) to wind, or to snow that fell while there were still leaves on the trees. Is it me and my luck, or has the weather really gotten so screwy?
Oddly enough, I was thinking it was about time to do some trimming and weeding. Looks like that will be put off for a while, while I wrestle trees.
~~ Silk
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