We had a storm come through on December 23rd of this past year (2013) and did quite a number on my place, as well as the next few houses. I swore it was a tornado, but the news channel just said it was a rare storm with sustained winds of 85 + for about 5 minutes?? The storm lasted for hours, but about 11:30 pm it got BAD!! My neighbors were trapped in their home for 3 hours while rescue crews removed them Anyways. Fast forward to today, and I need to clean up the split trees and broken trees in the treeline. My Amish neighbors fence is right underneath all of these trees, so I have to be careful about how I take them down. There will be several sets of pics as the day goes on. But here are some pics of some of the damage. The wind moved my shed about 25' off its foundation. Took down about 85' of fence. Breaking the 4x4's like toothpicks and launching some of the 1x6 slats about 50' out into the field. Here is the house 2 doors down. The woman being trapped made for breaking news. Here is where my little she'd used to sit.. And where it sits now (a buddy is gonna remove it for me when it dries up. I no longer want or need it) And what's left of the fence (I have since removed and cleaned all of this up) And some of the roof damage to my garage.. Up next....... Firewood pics Because it is firewood related. Just wanted to give a back story.
I already have one down in this pic. Still have the other to cut... The other one is much larger and hangs over the fence further. Getting to use my El cheapo pole pruner. These are pretty cheap on the Bay. It's a 4-n-1 Package. You get the pole saw attachment, a hedge trimmer attachment, a weed whip (line) attachment, and a brush cutter head. They are now about $230-$245, but last Spring I got it for $209. Works and runs great. Also cut down a Poplar in the back. Needed something to cut a bunch of cookies with. Gotta get the 362C broke in.. I'd rather use a softer wood..
WOW Great pictures . Powerful wind ! That's one well built shed to move like that & not fall apart ! Pretty wet out there, getting lots of rain or snow melt & ground thawing ? Good hinge. & nice saw
Nice work Dex. Hope your clean up goes well and you don't have to experience another storm like that!
Make that Poplar into usable firewood. Win-win. A friend calls Poplar "gofer" wood. Gotta' gofer some more, it burned up so fast. Looks like the post might have had a knot where it snapped. Still...........
Yeah, pretty wet in my back yard I don't cut it, and I used to have a big mud run/hole for the trucks. Yeah, that one did, but the storm snapped about 6 or 7 of them. Some at the ground, Some a foot or so up, and some just pulled out and thrown with the 1x6's. .
Wow! I remember seeing your garage in other threads and now this. Looks like you'll have your hands full for a little while. I like your Stihl and pruner! Are you going to put up a new shed? And the way you described your short lived storm sounds like a downburst to me. We have had them here too. Sounds like a freight train about to come through your living room
It looks like you had some nasty winds (micro burst up here) glad the family was safe, nice work on the wood.
Sounds like a Derecho Dex - typical when everything is blown in a straight line and not thrown in different directions. Had one blow through here several years ago - I left the bedroom as that's where both the monster oaks could reach. It ripped my locked storm door off the latch plate and tore the closing arm out of the door jamb. The nighttime ones that all you can see is the sky backlit by lighting and the tree tops folded 20' over -makes you pucker a bit
This is tomorrow's work.... Still trying to figure this one out in my head. Pretty tall and leaning against their barb-wire fence.....
It's going to damage the fence one way or another. I'm not up on fence line maintenance nor your relationship with your neighbor but wouldn't it be easier to cut the fence, pull down/drag out the tree and splice in a repair? Seems to me a reasonable person would see that damage is inevitable if that is left alone and fixing it before it is a worse problem is the best thing to do.
Yeah. I went and spoke with them the other day. They told me of there is any damage, to notify them and they will fix it ASAP. So maybe I can ask them to cut it, or just fix it afterwards They want it cleaned up as well. So it doesn't break during a storm and their cattle gets out. They would rather know when it's being done .
Cutting around property/fence lines is a tough one. Good call going to chat with them about it. I made the mistake of messing around with an electric fence thinking it was off... ouch!
Wow Dex. We are used to seeing your property so neat and in order. I'm glad your house is still standing man and nobody hurt.
How tall is the fence? Can you cut it above the fence (notch and hinge) so that it doesn't crush it? Then start cutting it up?
The problem is its "hung" up on another tree That pic was terrible. I will get another shortly. Eating some lunch before I head out.
It has been an Amish farm for forever. So that Barb wire fence isn't the 1st one. I didn't hit anything yesterday. . . . Knock on wood..
