At the edge of the driveway stands a row of lovely old maple trees. Unfortunately, the one nearest the house door has a hollow trunk. We considered having the tree taken down by a professional last fall, but decided to leave it for one more year because the tree crown was still leafing out well.
Yesterday, the decision to remove the tree was taken out of our hands. The thunderstorms of Sunday night were followed by a powerful wind on Monday afternoon. As I was standing in the kitchen, just starting work on some baking, I heard a loud crack and made it to the kitchen window just in time to see the huge branch rip from the tree and crash to the ground. Fortunately, it missed the house with the exception of a small amount of damage to the roof. I was relieved both that the branch missed the house and that I no longer have to be responsible for taking down this majestic old monarch. The removal of the branch will open up the canopy for an oak sapling that has been waiting in the shadows. Now it will have its day in the sun.
A similar thing once happened at my place. I have many old trees and hate to cut them down, even when I know it could be problematic. So I wait, and pray they don’t fall on the house!
That’s just how it was, Anya. We hated to cut it down, and we were lucky it worked out okay. Hope you have good luck too!
That would be startling! Glad there wasn’t much damage to the house. Good that it happened before the garden was grown in, too.
Sheri — I imagine the crack of the tree breaking apart gave you pause. I have so many trees around my place — big and beautiful, but scary to think about coming down during a storm. Thankfully nothing was really damaged and yes Mr. oak gets a place in the sun. — barbara
Yup, that was really something wasn’t it? I was expecting (hoping?) to wake up in the Emerald City but, alas, no surprise vacation. At some point during the night the wind tore our flag pole half off the house – lucky we didn’t have a hollow tree nearby.
that was quite the wind blowing on monday. i’m sorry about your trees… but the silver lining is for that oak sapling. i’m glad nature did its thing without crashing in on your home!