Cleaning up Storm Damage

[stevasaurus 23,281]

We just had a tornado that barley touched down go through Elgin a few days ago.  We were without power for just over 20 hours.  Lot's of trees down, including some of my backyard maple.  The limb filled up the back yard and did not hurt anything on the ground.  Lucky on that part.  The neighbor (2 doors up) had a huge limb come down with no ground damage either.  Again, lucky.  They had the rest of this tree taken down yesterday.  I got a lot of wood out of it...American Elm.  I thought you guys might like to see how this outfit dropped this huge tree.  I'll bet is was over 70' high...it was about 4' diameter at the base.  Used my 857 and trailer to haul wood back to my house.  Enjoy...this was fun and scary to watch all day yesterday.  

 

A large part of this tree is already down at this point.

 

This is an action shot.  That branch is on it's way down.

 

 

 

 

Our dog, Turd, is a mouser.  They like using the wood pile as a home.  Every once in a while Turd will get that mouse.  It is her mission in life now.  

 

[Achto 29,407]

Thanks for the pic's Steve. Really glad to hear that there was no major damage from the storm.

Edited July 14, 2020 by Achto

[Pullstart 66,882]

Some day when I grow up I’ll Learn how to fell a tree like that!  Glad all is well, Steve!

 

 

 

[Stormin 9,985]

 Dropped some big trees like that in the past. But straight down. Tree surgeons are great to watch. Had a big Canadian poplar in my garden when I bought this place. Got tree surgeons in to take that down as buildings below. Took them two days. The one up the tree was a Swedish girl. She was brilliant. She'd be up that tree for 6-7 hrs and all she wanted when she came down, was a pint of water.

 A mate and I dropped the last 10ft onto the drive.

 

 BTW. Something I learned. Get a stick the length of your arm and hold it at arms length, straight up. Face the tree and walk backwards till the tip of the stick is level with the top of the tree and where you are standing is where the tree top will reach.

Edited July 14, 2020 by Stormin

[squonk 43,844]

Neighbors had a big honking tree taken down last year. The stump was like 30 feet from their garage but most of the tree was over the garage. Lots of ropes. Cut a chunk and it would swing away from the roof and they would land it on the ground.

 

Nice trailer! 

Edited July 14, 2020 by squonk

[953 nut 60,110]

Steve, glad there wasn't any major damage.   Those tree climbers are awesome to watch, though they must have a death-wish in my opinion.  Dutch Elm disease (which came to us from France) killed all of the Elms in upstate NY back in the early '50s. As I recall it Cornell University developed a disease resistant strain of American Elm a few years later.  

[stevasaurus 23,281]

As I remember, Dutch Elm disease killed a ton of trees in Elgin, Ill. also.  I live on Liberty St. (also RT# 25) and it was lined with Dutch Elms back in the 1950's and maybe early 60's.  It was like driving down a tunnel on the Boulevard.  

[elcamino/wheelhorse 9,362]

Glad you survived the storm with out too many problems , 20 hours with out power is bad . There is not enough money in the world to get me up the high with a chain saw running. 

[stevasaurus 23,281]

Here is the damage that I had the next day.  I have no idea how the wind got to this branch, maybe lightening??

 

1st picture, used to be you could not see the sky with this shot...now there is a big hole.

 

It fell perfect in the yard...didn't even mess with the oak standing in this shot.

 

It did do a little damage to the gutter on the garage.  I can bend that back by hand.

 

Had to cut the branches by hand with no power.

 

 

The sun can shine through this hole now.  Way to ruin a nice tree.

 

[squonk 43,844]

Back in 98 we had a big Labor Day storm. I remember waking up to the lightning. Going off like a strobe light. I had a car for sale in the front yard. Wind was blowing and the sign I had leaning on the car never moved. I woke up in the morning and saw the sign still there and didn't think anything about it. No limbs down, nothing. Then I saw the news. The village I grew up in was devastated. The street I lived on linedwith trees gone. The school front yard with all the trees , gone. I went to my grandmother's house. The house was now empty but the tree out front that I used to hit stones with a baseball bat under laying across the drive way. I drove over to the next town to the west were a lot of relatives lived and most of the streets weren't passable. Limbs piled up to the streetlights.

https://cnycentral.com/news/local/20-years-ago-labor-day-storm-killed-2-left-severe-damage-became-burned-in-cnys-memory

 

Edited July 18, 2020 by squonk

[formariz 12,045]

On 7/14/2020 at 8:06 PM, stevasaurus said:

As I remember, Dutch Elm disease killed a ton of trees in Elgin, Ill. also.  I live on Liberty St. (also RT# 25) and it was lined with Dutch Elms back in the 1950's and maybe early 60's.  It was like driving down a tunnel on the Boulevard.  

This is from Hackensack's Town Hall Centennial Elm planted I think to commemorate our 100th Birthday. It was cut around 1950 due to the Dutch Elm disease. It was a massive tree not too tall but with a wide girth. A friends father bought it for $8.00 when he was about 10 years old. I was told that only three like this were made from it. It was in the basement of his fathers house until he sold house about 15 years ago. He asked me if I would like to have it, and sure enough it has been my favorite item in the house since then. I polished the top and introduced the through dovetails to support the piece from a shrinkage crack.

 

Edited July 18, 2020 by formariz