Wednesday, June 16, 2010

When the Bough Breaks

We had quite the excitement here at the cottage yesterday.  I was lounging working around upstairs when I heard a tremendous crash.  The dishes were rattling so I couldn't tell if the noise came from inside the house or out.  When I got downstairs, I glanced out the kitchen window and found this:

We have a huge ash tree in our front yard about 25 feet from the house.  The tree is at least 30 feet tall and over 200 years old.  It was extremely windy here yesterday which is odd because we are in a very sheltered spot.  The branch that fell is about 15 ft long.

Thankfully, it fell sideways from the house, across the front path and just missing the garden border.


I immediately feared for my kitty Millie's life.  She loves hanging around the garden there.

There she is, all her lives intact.

I called hubby to tell him the news and his first comment was, "Did it hit the truck?" Have to get your priorities straight you know.


When hubby came home, he could tell the branch had broken off because of the Woody pilliated woodpeckers we have that practically live in that tree.  They make annoying lovely noises sounds early on Sunday mornings.

Sophie surveying the damage.



Well, at least we have a head start on our winter firewood supply.  Rev up the chainsaw DM.

Cheers!

17 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh, how scary and sad. I hope missing a branch that large doesn't affect the rest of the tree. It would be heartbreaking to lose a 200 yr old tree -
love the priorities...you with your cat and hubby with the truck. Neither one of you mentioned the HOUSE!!! :) that's funny.
You can say it...woodpeckers are the most annoying (but lovely) creatures. I have one that lives in the tree right outside my bedroom window and if I could politely move it to another tree waaayyy down the street - I would.
Glad you're all ok - bet you didn't think you'd be chopping firewood this weekend! :)

Enjoy your day ~ Sarah

An Urban Cottage said...

What about Sassy?

. said...

Oh what a mess! I know the work involved getting that taken care of.

Oh, and your Woody's relatives live over here in Kentucky also... one poked a HUGE hole in my deck rail, going for a Wood Bee's larva. Sigh.

Well, good thing it didn't hit the house (or the truck) :)

Jean

Unknown said...

Glad to hear no one or nothing was hurt. Sorry to hear about the tree, at least a little fire wood always comes in handy.

~Andrea~

Unknown said...

We had quite a wind in our area last weekend and there were MANY branches (and whole trees) down in our area. PTL we had no issues. Glad your branch went down without damaging anything and that Millie has all her lives intact, lol.

Blessings!
Gail

Laura said...

I was waiting for you to blog about this. I even took a pic with my camera in case you needed :)

P.S.
I love your over zelous use of the strike through in your posts.

Unknown said...

There is an ash tree in our neighbor's yard....I am waiting for it to fall but not onto any houses or kitties or rabbit cages. It is shading my back yard and clothes line.

Mrs. M said...

Oh my goodness! I am sure glad no one was under there. And it looks to be a sunny day too ... no storm. But blaming it on the woodpeckers is a great idea :)

Anonymous said...

Glad that branch didn't land on anything important, like the cat or truck! It's amazing the racket those woodpeckers can make, isn't it?
-FringeGirl

Anonymous said...

Oh Deb, that was a close one! I did have to chuckle though when hubby asked if it hit the truck. That would definitely be my hubby too.

xo
LeAnn

Linda @ Itsy Bits And Pieces said...

So glad no one was hurt and no damage done!

Rebecca said...

Yikes!!! SO lucky it fell without hitting Millie (or your pup I think I saw in one of the photos) or the house or the truck!!! I am in love with your gorgeous yard!! I love mature lots big old trees! Our house is in a developing area and I SO wish we had trees like yours! We just planted a snowbird tree in the front yard so one day someone will be able to enjoy a big old tree in our yard :)

Sweet Bee Cottage said...

Oh I'm so glad you and your fluffies are all okay. That's so scary! We had that happen several times with some of our liquidambar trees and we decided they had to go. When they came out you should have seen the rings the woodpeckers had made around them.

Now I must say I enjoyed the sneak peek of your lovely yard. Maybe we can see more under better circumstances?

Shann said...

Oh! Thank goodness the kitty is alright. I bet that did make quite a noise as it broke free from the tree and crashed to the ground. Glad your home and family are all safe. :)

aimee said...

that branch missed landing on so many important things, its almost like it had eyes. glad to hear you are thinking positive about getting a head start for fire wood! a city tree in my front yard fell on my car and the city would not pay for repairs. it is a long story of how the city got away with taking responsibility! grrrrr. the Lord is good though i sold it at a yard sale!
blessings,
aimee
blessings,
aimee

aimee said...

p.s. we live across the street from an elementary school and it is broke just 5 min before school let out. a total God thing.
blessings,
aimee

Tammy said...

OMG...we had that happen though on a larger scale. We heard a loud crash the night before and actually looked outside but since it was dark didn't see anything. Well the next morning we saw our neighbors 88 year old oak laying across our yard. Yes it smashed the kids play fort and part of our garage..wasnt' fun at all. I can say the same thing for you tha we said- thankfully no one was hurt. The rest is just stuff.
tammy