I'm Fearful (OT)

...Though not because of little ghosts and ghouls, witches, goblins, and vampires, not to mention the Harry Potters, hot dog and pumpkins. Unfortunately in my little resort area most of the people are gone—the last of my Summer neighbors decamped this morning—so the trick-or-treaters don't come around. Quite a change from my old house in Wisconsin. No, it's weather I'm thinking of this Halloween.

It's not often we have cause to fear the weather here in Upstate. But my house is surrounded by steep hillsides covered with huge trees—if you're a regular reader you might remember that one of them crashed down in March of '18:

And nothing's frozen yet. Tomorrow is November first and we haven't had one cold day so far. Right now it's 61°F. It's been a wet year, but in particular, the last week has been wet, and now we're under heavy, steady rains...and high winds are forecast for tomorrow. 

There's a recipe for trouble. The rains soften the ground and loosen the tree roots' grip on the hillside, and then the winds put strain on that grip. It was heavy, wet snow after soaking rains that persuaded that red oak to give up and lie down.

I have one tree that's 20% higher than the rest which also leans outward right from its base, probably the result of another tree falling over on it when it was younger, causing it to grow at an angle rather than straight. That tall leaning tree threatens the house; it could easily do damage if it fell, and it would probably fall right where I let the dogs out. I should probably have it removed, but who can afford such things? The fallen oak pictured above cost a thousand dollars to have removed.

On the good side, I'm 550 feet below the surrounding highlands—the Finger Lakes occupy deep grooves in the land. We're often spared the worst of the weather they get up on the plains.

Wish me luck tomorrow in the winds. I'm hoping not to lose any trees. I've been thinking today about all those who are currently afflicted with weather and natural-disaster problems, in California especially but not exclusively. Thoughts, prayers, best wishes and luck to all of them, and to you if you're included.

Mike

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[MikeR]

Fingers crossed for you and the trees. Expecting similar here in SE PA.

[RubyT]

I hope you are protected from the wind. My town had a burst of wind last weekend and there are still over 1100 people without power. The older I get, the more I hate windstorms.

[John]

I discovered during hurricane Sandy that trees with a good amount of branches will damage your house but the branches actually dampen the fall so damage can be severe but not catastrophic. Funny thing too that insurance pays for tree removal of trees that damages something (house, fence, deck, wires, etc.) but not if it didn’t hit anything. But be careful when taking out the dogs. That’s what scares me most during a storm.

[Michael Perini]

If the tree really is close enough to do real damage, you can have it Topped, No not that T.O P., they can take 15-20 feet off the top, and or remove weight from the house side of the tree. (That has the effect of pushing it away from the house)
That would make it MUCH less vulnerable to wind, and increase its stability a great deal.
Not ideal from an aesthetic point of view, but it will remove the need to worry about it every time there is bad weather.
Now is also good time to check your home owner's policy to see exactly what is and isn't covered, or if your deductible goes up for storm damage.
Oops, now I've given you something Else to worry about........

But the first thing I would do is measure the tree. Lots of ways to do it without climbing. Look up old logger method.

[Mark Jennings]

Your line about $1K to get the big white oak removed made me grin. In my hood we heat with the stuff. Maybe your leaner was caused by soil creep. There could be more.

[Peter Wright]

I DO wish you luck! But if a heavy tree is threatening your house, you need to do something about it. Could you cut some limbs off? Anchor it?

[John Wilson]

This is the best time of year, summer peeps gone, start get brisk mornings, not buried in snow yet. Of course snow has its own beauty, you coming from Wisconsin I figured you would know get out and enjoy, take your vit d , Fall Winter what separates us from the Wimpy states...just embrace it your dog will love you for it. I live in Cny 35 min north have year rounder in ADK, don’t snowmobile but have access to 600 wooded acres to snow shoe, xcountry ski, just hike trails.

[Kaemu]

Good luck!

[MikeR]

Cold front passing here (SE PA) less vigorous than forecast. How did you make out?

May 29 we had straight line winds and severe microbursts that wreaked havoc, trees and power lines down, roofs damaged or torn apart, no power for 2-3 days. Folks are still dealing with the repairs.

[Lynn]

Mike, is it possible to sell the tree for firewood, with the buyer responsible for its safe removal? Here (in Oz) it's recognized that tree removal from around houses is often a necessary fire safety precaution.

[Dave]

Mike,

Good luck with the leaning tree. If you paid $1K for the tree removal, I hope they let you keep all that wood!

It'll be over and the temps will drop by tomorrow. In northeast Ohio, we went from 61 Thursday to 31 overnight. Some flickering of the lights, then they went off for a whole five seconds.

I hope you don't have anything worse your way!

[JohnW]

Fingers, toes, arms and legs crossed for you Mister J. Do hope it sorts itself out soon with no damage ... I'm starting to cramp up with all these contortions 🙃😄.

Seriously, hope all works out without any falling trees.

[Michael Perini]

Well, fairly severe storm here in SE PA , ( near the Delaware River) we got Tornado alerts starting at 10pm last night, then power went out. My generator has been running since then, no word as to when we might expect to get it back.
Lots of downed trees, closed roads.
I hope you did ok.... if you did, it was a warning to do something about your tree.........

[Robert Roaldi]

When settlers cleared the land, the first thing they did was to remove trees near their homes, for fire and wind damage reasons. We're having high winds in Ottawa this morning and I like watching the standing waves in the toilet bowl due to air pressure changes. It's a good reminder that Mother Nature is in charge even though we think we're tucked safe inside. Don't believe what you read in ancient texts, humans have dominion over squat.

[Earl Dunbar]

There are lots of trees in the area, but maybe some Mennonite crafts people might want to take the tree down and keep the wood?

We used Adirondack Arborists for our property. They were professional, very nice people to work with and the cost was moderate - not the cheapest, not nearly the most expensive. I’m pretty sure they would service Keuka.

[Ray Maines]

It's tomorrow as I type this. How did you do last night?

[Bob G.]

I had a large maple tree with it’s main part hanging over a new barn addition, just waiting to split off and cause major damage. Had an arborist look at it to see if it could be safely saved, and he put in a cable bolted to the limb in question and another part of the tree. He made a calculation to the effect that if it ever snapped off, the cable would enable it to swing free of the structure. I kept waiting for the perceived event where the cable would snap under high winds tension. Years later, the main limb did snap and the cable swung it harmlessly to an open area. Always wondered if trees could be tethered to survive wind destruction... now I know.

[Mike Ferron]

"Tomorrow is November first and we haven't had one cold day so far. Right now it's 61°F."

And way down south here in Austin TX? I scraped the first frost of the season off my windshield at 4:45 AM Nov. 1. 31 degrees F. Go figure. (Sept. was hot as hell though.)

[Kirk]

It was 35 degrees this morning here in Austin. Bone chilling. But no trees down just yet.

[Rick]

Mike,

What happened with the tree(s)? I swore to the heavens that if you were saved, I would buy that new lens I'd been holding off on.

Hope all is well there.

Rick