...in the treetops, when the wind blows...

The day after we got home from our vacation to the Pocatello region, there was a windstorm that blew through our valley. It was a sudden burst that occurred in the weather, and it blew horrendously  for about a half hour. When the storm was nearly over, my mother-in-law Kathy called and said "Did you call Josh to tell him about the two trees that fell in your yard?" I had no idea! Since the wind was so strong, we were inside. And since it was so loud, I couldn't hear anything else going on outside! So I walked out to see the damage. We have several mature trees in the yard, and the one that is on the northern-most tip of our yard had two major branches break off and fall in the ditch, on our driveway, in our yard, and in Kathy's yard. One of the branches was also laying on the power line. Kathy called Ed & Josh to come home from work to take care of it BEFORE it either: 1. cut the power line or 2. backed up the ditch and produced flooding in the yard. I grabbed my camera before they got home and surveyed the damage with photos.

As seen from Kathy's yard:
(from her view it really did look like entire trees had fallen!)

As seen from the bridge over the ditch

(You can see how it's laying on the power line):

As seen from our driveway

(It bent the fence panel):

As seen from the terrace above the driveway

(It completely blocked the driveway access):

As seen from the burn pile next to the terrace

(you can see the scars on the tree from where the two major branches had ripped off):

As soon as Ed & Josh got home, we all got right to work. The men used chainsaws to cut the main branches, and Malachi and our sons hauled the smaller branches to the burn pile and cut-up bigger branches to the stack of split wood.

(a view from our driveway of Josh using a chainsaw to cut up branches in Kathy's yard)

A fellow employee of Ed's also came home with him and noticed that the main branches that had fallen had rot-spots inside of them, and he pointed out that the branch that arches over our driveway also had some rot in it. Ed & his friend decided that branch needed to be cut, too, or it would inevitably break off the tree eventually as well.

(the arch branch as seen from the south side of the tree)

I was so sad that they were going to cut that branch. I loved how it naturally curved over the driveway entrance! I pleaded with them to please just cut where the growth was, and to leave the arch remaining. Thankfully, they obliged. When the branches from our driveway were cleared, Ed got his backhoe and hoisted up his friend in it with a chainsaw, and he cut off the part of the branch where the weight was putting pressure on the rotting arch.

(as seen from the north side of the tree)

(Notice the arch still remaining after the leafy branches had been removed from it)

Cleaning up was a lot of work, but with so many people helping we cut up the logs, raked up the twigs, and hauled off the entire mess in just 2 hours!

(Hauling off the branches that had fallen on the ditch, yards, and driveway)

(the young workers throwing the branches in our burn pile next to the terrace by our driveway)

After the major branches had been cut into stumps, and before they were hauled off to the wood-splitting pile, I looked at one of the logs. I decided to see how old the tree was, so I counted the rings in it. There were 77!!! Since the branch that broke off was at least 12 feet above ground, the base of the trunk is even wider, which means the tree is at around 100 years old! Amazing to think about!

We need to have the tree professionally trimmed now because all of the inside branches that never saw the sun are now visible and are very dead and noticeable on the tree! And this fall, we are going to have a ginormous bonfire with all the fallen & removed branches!