Friday, 11/4/2022: Windstorm that knocked down 3 trees on our property, including a 60-foot fir that smashed the back of the garage and extended over the driveway and the house. Suspended over the house by a spruce tree. Power went out. We contacted our home insurance company.
Sunday: 11/6. DH cut a different large, 15" diameter tree that was downed on our property by the storm into sections for firewood. I helped him roll the sections into a neat stack which is outside our fence. We had to make it clear that this wood belongs to us and we intend to keep it because people are patrolling the area for downed trees to take for firewood. This tree didn’t cause any damage.
Monday, 11/7. Power was restored. Hallelujah! I took a shower, washed the dishes and charged my cell phone. But a snow event was predicted for Monday night and I was worried that the added weight might pull the fir down onto the house. Hired a tree service to remove the top of the fir down to where it was lying on the power line. I felt better since now the house was safe. No time to do more since it was getting dark. Started to snow. Power went out again.
Wednesday, 11/9. Power came back at midnight, 12 AM.
I’m ready to start thinking about getting a generator and a wood splitter. Over DH’s objections since he’s an extreme LBYMer and never agrees with any of my purchases (even when they are for him).
I’m expecting the insurance adjuster to visit this week. He flew in from Kansas City since the storm caused so much damage that the local adjuster was completely overwhelmed.
Snow? It’s 64 degrees here right now. Expected to crack 70 tomorrow. Down to 64 on Friday. Might make my last trip to Greenfield Village Friday, as the weekend is expected to be about 20 degrees cooler.
Wow, some serious labor there, I’d be calling in some help, like the tree guys with the means to lift the chunks bak out of the way, sometimes us guys have to know our limits!!
Trick will be to find that help I bet… Baked cookies? If the power is back…
We had a very large tree fall on our house, happened to crush a car that was parked near the rootball, too. Called our insurance company, they hired a tree service which came out on “expedited basis” and took care of it the same day. Cost them $6,000. Cost us our deductible.
Our tree removal (some left to do) cost $3,000. The insurance adjuster said that was quite reasonable. I was delighted that they came the same day because we got 3" of snow that night which might have pulled the tree down onto the roof.
They brought 3 large pieces of equipment (a bucket extender truck, a chipper and a chip truck) and 3 young, vigorous workers with good teamwork. Once the job is done I will give the tree service 5 stars.
Wendy
We had a big, rotted core Creek Alder taken down a couple years ago, local company, made it look easy, one fellow, Francisco, was their climber, it was in the back yard, so no bucket truck access. It was a kick to watch them do that job, teamwork, long time pro’s, maybe a half day and it was down to the low stump. I didn’t have them grind it out, used it as an excuse to dig, chop, winch as much of the roots as I could, filled my yard waste bin a few times… The whole center was rotted, less than an inch of the outer bark was feeding the solid upper limbs, any high winds would have taken it down on our home… All gone! Well worth the $$$'s spent…
Oooooh! The board feet of lumber. Its too bad most tree services cut the trees into 6 foot sections. 8.5 to 9 foot is long enough to throw in a porta ban to make into lumber. When you cut your own you see just how bad the stuff at the big box stores is.
Qaz, this was a beautiful, straight tree that would have made great lumber. But there was no way to save it for lumber. The tree guys cut it into 16" segments and we will burn it in the wood stove. Too bad…but I’d hardly call it waste since we do heat the house with the wood stove.
