{A} Passing Wind

[vitanola]

Some of you now that I'm in the process of the restoration of an unusual early bungalow. Work had been progressing splendidly, and I was planning to move in to a period-perfect cottage at summer's close.

Last Friday (June 18) a "tree-top" tornado passed through our town, and laid a 250-year-old hickory tree down on the house, driving parts of the second storey through the living room ceiling, breaking the main beam in the cellar, knocking the porch askew, and bowing the walls.

I was lucky, as my place was vacant, and is repairable. Another house may well have to be demolished, and others sustained serious damage. Four of the six homes on our block were damaged more-or-less severely, and we lost a total of 26 large, healthy trees, including several 200+ year-old hickories, three tulip poplars with trunk diameters exceeding five feet, our last three surviving elms (planted in 1887) and numbers of immense hard maples.

 

[davestlouis]

Yikes, that's a mess! There was some wild weather in SE Michigan and NW Ohio about a week before that as well, hopefully you've gotten all the weather you're going to get this year.

BTW, when I first read the title of the thread I thought it was a reference to "breaking wind" and I was curious to see what it was about...

 

[dhermann1]

OMG!

Talk about nature's wrath! Darn lucky all humans are OK. Please give us a few progress reports.

 

[Chas]

Autumn trees.....float through my window....

Good deal that nobody was hurt. I would consider calling in an arborist to check the other trees in the 'hood to see if they are at risk to come down next time you have a big blow, so they can be cut down before they cause further problems. As rotten as it is to bring down old trees, you and your neighbours were lucky nobody was killed.

On the bright side - you might have a fine bit of lumber to be had, there. Old hickory like that would look really nice all done up, and there's plenty of beautiful firewood there, too.

 

[Foofoogal]

I think like Chas. I immediately gravitated to the word "hickory"
Very expensive. Hope you have not paid someone to haul it off yet.

It is a mess. So sorry.

 

[vitanola]

No, I burn wood and coal. I've saved the best parts of the trunks for a friend who is a Wheelwright (Amish). After speaking to the neighbors, we have more than a dozen good hickory logs waiting for him to turn into buggy and wagon wheels. I suspect that he will be more than happy to re-wood the wheels on my Ford, which are getting a bit wobbly after eighty-six years.