Well, maybe not “carnage” so much, but our Red Bud tree took some damage from the freak March snowstorm that struck overnight here in Saint Louis. Only a few inches of the white stuff fell, but it was in a very, very short period of time. Plus, it was the heavy, wet snow that tends to weigh things down.
It was around 4:45 – 5:00 AM when I heard the sickening sound of cracking lumber. In my half sleep I actually felt a bit of panic because there used to be a large oak right outside our back door, and it had been dying for years. I finally had it taken out summer before last, but in the past it had dropped limbs and exacted a toll on both our house and that of our neighbor. However, up until I had it removed I had harbored a fear that it would some day send one of the larger branches through our roof, and if that happened, our bedroom would be right in the damage path. Still in a semi-dream state, this was my muddied brain’s first thought. I hooked an arm around E K as I rolled to the right, but before I could push her off the bed and out of harm’s way, I heard the heavy thud of the branch hitting the ground outside instead of coming through the roof on top of us. My brain woke just a bit more and in that instant I remembered that the oak was gone.
Good thing too…
E K was still asleep, but if I had pushed her off onto the floor, I’m betting she wouldn’t have been for long.
I crawled out of the bed and looked out the back window of our bedroom. Snow covered the landscape in an uneven, spotty blanket. And there, in the middle of the yard, was a major branch of our Red Bud tree. At that point, I pretty much sighed and then muttered, “This ain’t good.”
Since it had been in the 70’s and 80’s for the past couple of weeks, trees were budding and sprouts were sprouting. If you are familiar with the Red Bud, you know that in the spring it is covered with tiny reddish-magenta flowering buds for a week or two. Unfortunately, those miniscule flowers formed enough of a lattice to capture and hold the snow, making the weight on the branch too much to bear.
This particular Red Bud was one I had given E K as a birthday gift around 15 years ago. Actually, I gave her a stake with an orange flag on it and told her to go stick it in the yard wherever she wanted a tree. And, no, before you ask, I didn’t make her water it or anything … Two days after she stabbed it into the ground like a Van Helsing disciple offing a vampire – (and she looked pretty damn hot doing it too, as I recall) – the nursery arrived while we were at work and planted the tree she had been telling me she wanted.
At any rate, as promised in my “tweets” early this morning, below are a couple of pictures of the tree…
This would be the view from our bedroom window on the second floor. It was taken by E K early this morning while it was still extremely overcast, so I had to adjust it a bit in Photoshop. (click photo to enlarge.)
From the back of the yard, later in the day. As you can see, the snow disappeared within a matter of a scant few hours, and the sun was brightly shining. What isn’t obvious is that the ground is saturated (it rained all day before the snow arrived) and there is even standing water in the depressions throughout the lawn. (click photo to enlarge)
There you have it. Our backyard carnage. Looks like I am going to be pulling out the chainsaw in the next day or two before I have to jet off to Nebraska.
More to come…
Murv
-V-
March 29th, 2009 at 14:41
So sorry for the poor tree. We had our storm on Thursday after a few weeks of gorgeous abby-normal winter into spring Colorado weather. We needed the moisture, so there wasn’t too much boo-hooing. We went out and shook our baby apple, pear, cherry, and maple trees every time we went out to shovel so we wouldn’t lose them. I was hoping it would do something to the crapweasel cottonwood in the front, but nope. It’s still there…..
Deb
March 29th, 2009 at 14:57
So sorry to hear it. Such a pretty tree too. But am awful glad to hear it didn’t hurt the house. Was there any other damage other than the tree? Anything freeze or was it quick enough that there wasn’t too much harm?
Grabbing the wife, just barely awake to think of that, now that’s cool. 🙂 She would have had to let ya off the hook even if she had woke up. Her HERO…….LOL
We had a freak storm in Oct. 2006. It was about a little over a week before Halloween/Samhain, Colorado Springs, CO. It took out our maple out front. Just missed smashing through the roof and onto our son. Scared the crap out of us. Figuratively of course.
M. R. Sellars
March 29th, 2009 at 15:11
LOL… Well, EK isn’t all that excited about people waking her up… Especially if it involves her hitting the floor (not that I’ve ever pushed her out of the bed, mind you… But, when our daughter was very young and crawled into bed between us one night, she did (LOL).
No other damage really… The wind ripped up the cover on my boat, but the winter had already thrown down a pretty good harsh on it to begin with, so it was tattered anyway.
Glad your tree incident came out all good. Our daughters bedroom is right below ours, so I figured she would be all good. The rafters are reinforced where we gutted the house and completely redid it, so the main floor is pretty secure if something comes through the roof. 😉
Tasialue
March 29th, 2009 at 16:23
The tree’s still strong enough to survive it, right? *is a bit worried, as she loves that tree*
M. R. Sellars
March 29th, 2009 at 16:32
Should be all good… We hope.
I went out there and did an inspection this afternoon. There was a prior break (we knew about) from several years back, and apparently though it had regrown, there was a hidden wound in the crook where rot had set in, which lent to the weakening and therefore demise of that branch of the tree. Once things dry up back there and I get the downed limb out of the way, EK will dig out the small amount of remaining rot, then patch and wrap the parent limb.
She’s a pretty good tree doctor.
Although, her tree doctor uniform really isn’t all that sexy, but then, the tree doesn’t care. It’s still woody anyway.
(Ha! I kill me, yet again!)
Mariah
March 30th, 2009 at 05:03
Poor tree. Hope it recovers! And you think freak March snowstorm is bad there. Try freak “the day before Easter” snowstorm in central TEXAS! We already don’t know what to do with snow. Give it to us that late in the year and it’s “Chicken Little” syndrome!!
M. R. Sellars
March 30th, 2009 at 05:09
I know what you’re saying… And here they tried to tell us there was no such thing as Global Climate Change…
Kinda like saying, no, the sky isn’t blue. You’re just imagining that…
:-/