Friday, January 04, 2008

a dark and stormy day

But first, a bit of color! Yes! It blooms! Unfortunately my camera didn't pick up the pretty purple color of the bloom. See it? Right about 7 o'clock? A wee cigar shaped purple sheath with the teensiest white flower sticking out the end of it. What fun!
An olive tree that has been leaning since the last big wind storm a few years ago finally gave up its grasp of the earth today. It did miss the faucet that is only a foot away from its main trunk but it laid its head on my little metal shed 30' away. Luckily, olive trees go down slowly so even though they are huge (this is what happens when they aren't kept pruned) they usually don't do much damage. ...
unless there is a vehicle or a fence or a house in the way... I later discovered another big olive tree had slung itself through the beautiful fence my brother built several years ago (missing the posts!) and is currently resting its leafy neck and head on the neighbor's roof. So,
Guess what I"ll be doing tomorrow?! It won't be selling birdseed. Guess again. This tree (above), resting in Lake Cheryl, can just rest awhile. It is not in the way of anything. The tree resting on the house will have to be dealt with tomorrow. Photos coming. It was nearly dark when I discovered it. Our storm was a doozy! Incredible winds (40 to 50 mph) blew from early morning (it was still dark) to around 3:00pm and rain fell and the power went out and I cursed myself for not having a book lamp, nor the right batteries for my transistor, nor decent surge protectors. These things are on the top of my list next time I go shopping. I don't mind losing trees to Mother Nature's whims but I do mind very much when trees are lost to humans with big egos and bulldozers.
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2 comments:

Nickie said...

Sorry about your storm! For you guys thats a big one. Here, it seems like we get storms like that almost monthly(we had 80 mph winds last week), or more. Always stay prepared! I didn't know what a storm was untill I moved from CA to the midwest. Do stay safe and hopefully someone will rescue with a chainsaw soon!

weeder1 said...

Thanks Nickie. I really shouldn't complain because what I've had to deal with is very minimal to what has befallen others. Some of my neighbors are still without power and several people have houses and/or cars with trees IN them. And of course, a few people have died. So my "whining" sounds pretty trite!It surely could have been worse!