Dec 8, 2023
There is beauty in the broken things.
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There is beauty in the broken things.
Wind Advisory
…WIND ADVISORY IN EFFECT FROM 1 PM THIS AFTERNOON TO 10 AM CDT THURSDAY… The National Weather Service in Omaha/Valley has issued a Wind Advisory, which is in effect from 1 PM this afternoon to 10 AM CDT Thursday. * WINDS…East 20 to 30 mph with gusts up to 45 mph. * TIMING…This afternoon into Thursday morning. * IMPACTS…Strong winds may blow down limbs, trees, and power lines. Strong crosswinds…
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I think for many gardeners, a holiday means more time in the garden for them to 'get things done.' Not me. I wasn't expecting to do any work in the garden today on Canada Day. I did though. These things happen.
I took the top photo this morning because we were expecting high winds and I'm expecting some of the limbs that are dieing back to be effected by this. For the most part I figure if they didn't come down in last summer's big wind, or in the major ice storm in December, they are in pretty good shape and providing some good habitat, but at the same time, I'm thinking with the bulk of the photosynthesis done for the season (remember those dropping leaves?), things might start to get sealed off... anyway, that's why I took the photo this morning.
Then there was the creaking. We were sitting under the tree after dinner playing a game of The Settlers of Catan when there was some creaks. I was trying to ignore them, thinking just it was a neat sound of the tree in the breeze. My wife... not so much. She was nervous. I started to look around, and I isolated the source. This limb lost a large portion of itself in the ice storm, and I knew there was some minor damage to it in the part that was still up. This is much more serious than I thought. The damaged part I knew of is 2 meters from the crack I'm showing in the photos. This is right near the truck essentially and is 3/4s of the way through the limb.
I decided I should do something about it tonight. I checked with the neighbour, as technically it is over his side of the property line. He agreed it was fine to take it down, and offered to take care of it himself but I offered to do it. I looked it over and was pretty satisfied if I took a bunch of the leaves off, the wind wouldn't have much to catch on, and then in the next day or two I could take the whole limb off. My experience from the ice storm was there was much, much more surface area in the branches thanks to the fractal geometry, but the bulk of the weight was in the think limbs.
It is always higher than you think. A bright side, I can now get into the tree un-aided. In the past I didn't have a method of getting up into the tree without a boost of some sort, so when I saw a way to do it, I was pleased with myself. I wanted to take it down in pieces of course, but wanted to check the source of the crack -- I could see through to the other side... gulp. I came back down to the ground and used the loppers and removed a number of leafy branches. The first two resulting in some creeeeeking as I did it, but after that it was silent. I got up on the 6' step ladder and managed to get a few more off, but the higher set was too high. I think it is enough for tonight and I'll try another method tomorrow or Thursday. I might get a 10' painters ladder from another neighbour, or I'll lean on long (25' maybe?) ladder up on it. Oh... I just remember I have an extension blade too to saw high up. My wife pointed out that if I lean the ladder on the branch, it might be un-stable...
If it wasn't for the powerline running underneath it I wouldn't be as concerned about doing it in chunks... Here's to more adventures :-(
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The world on Cape Cod is a winter wonderland. I took the long way to my breakfast spot this morning and saw limbs split and broken from the weight of the snow, tree branches laden with heavy, icy snow and bent to the ground, fronts of houses hidden behind…
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