Friday, May 19, 2017

Stormy Weather


As all of you have been experiencing this has been a strange year as far as the weather is concerned. In the winter we had balmy days right before getting 10 inches of snow.  In the fall we had unbelievably hot weather right before temperatures would fall below freezing. This spring began early but there were cold days often accompanied by snow.

Here in the plains states there has been a lot of precipitation. Most of it has been rain. There has been a lot of wind. Tornadoes have become common.

Right here where I live I feel somewhat protected from some of the severe weather. Tornadoes have hit within a few miles but I am nestled against a hill. It is not likely that a tornado will touch down here.

I live less than a mile from a big river. It has been known to flood and completely engulf the fields just across the highway from me. That is a distance of about 3 blocks. However the fields across the highway are several feet lower than the little town I live in. It is not likely to flood here.

I think the biggest problem we have other than the occasional hail storm is the wind. Because of the hill the wind seems to blow almost directly from the north to the south. It can be pretty fierce sometimes.

There are a lot of older trees around us. Even a moderate wind will blow small branches all over the place. We are constantly picking up twigs and small branches from all over the yard.

Then there are the big branches that break off and fall. Last year the neighbor's tree lost a huge branch. The base fell right next to the trunk of the tree. The branch itself filled both our yards. It missed our house by less than 2 inches.

One of our trees lost a big branch a few years ago. It was in the middle of a bitterly cold winter. The branch was on the roof and hanging off the edge with the base of the branch resting on the ground. It was too large for us to move without causing some serious damage to the house.

I called a tree service. They made an emergency call for us. They told me that it was a good thing I called. It was a big branch.

While they were there I asked what they would charge to trim the tree over the house. It was a reasonable fee so they did it while they were here.

It was so cold that day. Of course the wind was still blowing a bit making it colder for those poor men. But they were troopers. It took them about 3 hours. I stayed inside where it was warm.

We still have to clean up the small branches that blow from the trees including that one.

Then last night just as I was almost asleep I heard a bang and a tinkling of glass near me. The whole place shook.

I jumped out of bed to make sure my sons were safe. They were coming to see if I was okay.

A quick look outside revealed that a branch had fallen from another tree. It landed on the house right above my bed. It was not nearly as large as the other one had been thank goodness.

My son got up early and got out the ladder. He was able to pull it off the house before I even woke up.

I also realized the tinkling sound of glass was actually from a small wind chime that hangs from the ceiling in my room. No broken windows.

So far we have been really fortunate that there has been no damage to the roof. Knock wood!

I suppose now I will have to have the other tree trimmed too. It never ends.

18 comments:

  1. What an exciting night you had! Good to hear no windows were broken.

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    1. Unfortunately that sort of thing happens much too often here.

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  2. I agree, dear Emma, that the weather seems to change quicker and more radically.
    I am glad to hear that the night-accident was not a full-blown one. But trees can be difficult - in our garden in Hildesheim we had one that had to be removed: huge and not stable, a danger. And the climbers went pale when they saw it - though their chef, a free-climber, went up. Happy to say: no wind that day.

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    1. I hate to think of removing these trees. They are old and so beautiful. But I think they are becoming dangerous. I am arguing with myself over the problem right now. While I hope I do not take too long I also hope I will not have to do it.

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    2. I argued with myself 6 years, Emma, before I decided!

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  3. Replies
    1. Thank you. Me too because I was the one trying to sleep directly under the place it landed.

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  4. It is good no one was hurt. It is sad to remove old trees but safety makes it necessary sometimes.

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    1. They are such beautiful trees. They give marvelous shade in the summer.

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  5. Yep, same here in Blighty. We did not have a proper winter (can't remember the last time we had snow in London). Spring has been rather unstable so far. :-)

    Greetings from London.

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    1. Now we are bracing for floods. The river does not usually come this far but it could be about three blocks away. The farmers just finished planting and there are pools of water in all the fields. Hopefully the river will not flood too bad if it floods.

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  6. I am a little late in catching up on blog posts as we were away last week, and this post was a bit harrowing especially at the end. Glad no one was hurt and that the house was OK as well. Sadly, it does seem that you will need to contact that tree service again. We had to have an older oak taken down before anything could happen. It was a wonderful tree in the front yard, but the center was all rotten we learned when it was cut, so better safe than later sad. Glad you are OK and hope the same applies to future storms as it's been a wild weather week in many states.

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    1. I am getting so many opinions that I need to cut the trees down. I appreciate all of them. It is still a hard decision.

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  7. Oh, here it's rainy and windy too, and pretty cold.

    Two years ago, my Mancá da Serra - a tree that produces different tones of purple flowers - succumbed to the wind. I was very sad...

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    1. It is sad to lose a tree. They have character and give definition to the place where they live.

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  8. oh it sounds scary dear Emma ,though we live in southern plains near a desert like area not desert exactly still winds bring lots of dust everyday since summers have started and main problem is cleaning the house after each few hours because it was my wish to make an open front yard house with tree and garden which i love most of course but windy summers made me tired and sick of cleaning each year.
    i agree that weather turn out be like crazy this year and has mixed terms and conditions strangely.
    This is nice you have tree service to pill away huge branches.
    thank God you and your roof were safe .
    wishing you a safe season ahead

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    1. I fear I would not be happy in a desert-like setting. I like the trees and other greenery. I hope you are able to have your tree and garden to enjoy when the wind is not blowing the dust.

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