First, we got home last night to a dead animal on the side of the road, across from our house. I immediately thought it was Mattie. Instead it was a woodchuck (thank God). Mike hypothesizes that Mattie chased the thing into the road -- it used to live in one of our stone walls.
We visited with the family (see the evening post for photos), did some miscellaneous things, put flea/tick stuff on the yard, and watched a movie (The Air I Breathe -- I liked it). As we were laying in bed, not quite asleep, a storm made its way through Central MA.
I got up this morning with a few little tasks on my mind. I wanted to get together some past issues of N magazine for reference and needed to set up tonight's recording of Top Chef. I woke Mike up then went upstairs to file some magazines when I heard, "Tracy, where are you?" "Upstairs," I replied. In a serious tone Mike said, "Could you please come down here?"
I knew I hadn't done anything and Mattie probably hadn't done anything. What could this be about? Mike said, "Didn't you see anything strange this morning?" With a puzzled look I replied, "No?" He pointed outside to the gigantic second peak of the pine tree in our yard.
This pine tree was one of our favorites. It is super tall, somewhere in the range of 50 feet, give or take, with twin tops. The split is (was) about 30 feet off the ground. Apparently wind or lightning hit the split and ripped off one of our peaks. I took the photos below around 5:45 this morning and had to touch them up a bit. Hopefully you can see everything.
Our tree, now with only one peak
Another angle; Mattie is supervising
The second peak; I know it is hard to see. It is the long green thing that nearly fills the frame
Another shot of the fallen peak
It just looks so wrong like this...
We feel very fortunate that the tree did not land on the house, barn, or one of the cars. We were all out in the yard in that same spot last night...
Guess we'll be getting the chainsaw out to deal with the fallen peak. Not too sure about camp this weekend...
On an unrelated note, I posted my little quiz last week. So far I have only gotten TWO responses :( If you have time, fill in your answers! I will anonymously share what everyone responded in the next couple of days.
Smiles!
A more proactive approach to pruning is really better than just throwing it to the winds. A reliable landscaping firm such as Greenbush Gardens can provide needed services and they also clean up after. Only down side is that they are not lightning fast.
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