June 17, 2003
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ooooOOPS!
I must start paying more attention to the woodpeckers. I already listen delightedly to their drumming, and love catching sight of one in the woods, but I mean I have to pay attention to WHERE they are doing that drumming.
It was windy yesterday. Greyfox and I were in here talking contentedly, which a few months ago might have been enough all by itself to make the roof fall in, but recently our relationship has taken a bizarre turn in a functional direction, and it only sounded as if the roof was going to fall in.
Whannggg! Whap! Thump! Swish! The place shook, stuff rattled in cupboards, and I looked up in time to see branches and twigs fall past the front windows.
Greyfox asked, “What was that!?!” I was on my way out the door, and didn’t answer him until he caught up with me. By then, he could see as well as I could that a tree was down across the driveway, between the tongue of our trailer house and the front of the old blue truck parked there.
As best I can reconstruct events from the sounds I heard and what I can see of the aftermath, the tree broke off about 6 feet above the ground, bounced off the aluminum ladder, then off the roof, and landed on the ground. There is no apparent damage to the domicile, and given the magnitude and weirditude of recent events around here, it barely made a ripple on our nervous systems, once the effects of the startle reflex and the adrenaline surge wore off.
Koji dog got his chain tangled in the branches a few times before Doug got out there, hacked the fallen dead wood up and moved it out of reach.
It is rather obvious from the standing remains, that splintery six-foot stump, that bugs have been munching it for quite some time, and birds have been drilling for bugs. I had never noticed. Oblivious. Unaware. Just not paying attention. My bad.
No harm done this time, and that other poplar tree, the bigger one that leans kinda threateningly over the middle of the trailer on the same side, is still green and healthy-looking. But even so….
I guess I need to pay more attention, eh?
Comments (8)
wow! That stump does have some holes drilled in it, doesn’t it?
Glad there was no damage to house or inhabitants (two and four legged). And…you can always look at it this way….firewood!!
…but it is too rotten to be good firewood. Rotten wood doesn’t produce much heat.
Wow! Glad nothing was damaged too much. I like wood peckers, though they can be a nuisance sometimes.
contented talk and parking lot affection – this all sounds good
I am glad you understood my comment about the bears.
I love the sound of woodpeckers, but I agree that a bit more vigilance might be in order
What a suprise that was for you! Glad everyone and everything is ok. I do wonder though if someone was trying to get your attention?
wow, that is pretty intense. I have to say I love the sound of woodpeckers. There is a great rythme that they have.
Might even be wise to do a walk about… check all the trees and where the woodpeckers are feasting!
Glad no damage was done.