root and branch

Another day, another tree down in the back yard. Wednesday night's sudden storm produced not only the pyrotechnics of a February thunderstorm, wind advisory, and tornado watch, but the added drama of the Norway spruce next door crashing across our yard, taking half of our apple tree with it.

Gven Golly had just left for her yoga class in New Albany when the wind started to whip up, but otherwise everything was normal in Methodistville. The first salvo of the storm hit during her class, while I was still at my desk watching the lightning flash to the southeast, and she saw the aftermath when she got home. I was driving to my class at Whetstone when she called my cell to say, uh, don't be shocked when you come home and there's a big tree down. Ho-hum.

It was a mighty wind indeed, to uproot the whole darn tree and topple it straight north, across the fence and half of the yard. Amazing how shallow-rooted those big tall spruces are. It clipped a couple of major limbs of the apple tree on our side of the fence, and we'll have to see if the apple tree survives the shock.

No other damages that I can see, and this will give me something to do this weekend, trimming limbs off the fallen spruce and freeing up the apple tree. Time to sharpen the chainsaw, Ole. Then we'll see about repairing the fence, which was no gem in the first place, made entirely from scrap lumber like most of my recycling projects. And come spring there will be considerably more light coming into the yard, to the benefit of whatever we decide to plant.

If only spruce made good firewood, but I think it's too soft. Maybe I can cut the trunk into new fence posts!

Later that week...

Upon closer examination, the top-heavy spruce not only became suddenly horizontal, but it took the whole apple tree with it. It wasn't a direct hit, but the apple tree trunk was leaning about 45 degrees due north, about half-uprooted with two major limbs broken. The weather on Saturday gave me time to do triage.

So I cut off all the needle-bearing branches and cut the trunk into 10-foot sections that would make good totem poles if someone has any totemic faces they want to carve into them, you're welcome to them. The smallest branches might make good mulch. The apple tree will make nice, aromatic firewood next year. Even the sawdust smells sweet.