When big trees fall down...

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" height=100 BGCOLOR="#CCCCFF" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="00500640egdysm.jpg"> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#000066" FACE="Arial" ><B>When big trees fall down...</B></FONT><FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#000099" FACE="Arial" ><B> </B></FONT><B>    |    </B><A HREF="http://www.katedouglas.com" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.katedouglas.com"><U><B> </B></U></A><A HREF="http://www.katedouglas.com" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.katedouglas.com"><U><B>home</B></U></A></div> <div> <B>When big trees fall down...</B>   |   <A HREF="id2.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="cleanup"><U>clean-up</U></A></div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" height=380 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <I>When big trees fall down...</I></div> <div> Yesterday, January 23, 2007, a big oak that's probably been growing for 300+ years in Dry Creek Valley decided to come down. It's shaded the back of the house for the past eighty years or so, merely losing the occasional limb or small branch. The fact it had stayed up through a huge windstorm a week ago is amazing, since the day it fell was clear, still and about sixty degrees. I guess that didn't matter. Doug and I were moving the last of our furniture out of the house we've lived in for the past sixteen years--he was in Jon's old room loading a cabinet onto a dolly and I was standing beside his truck, taping drawers shut on a desk we'd just loaded when I heard a loud crack. Luckily I recognized it immediately as a VERY BAD THING and took off running without waiting to think the action through. I knew it was the oak tree, possibly a limb breaking, and figured that if I could get as far as the hallway I'd be beyond anything that fell. I made it to the kitchen, where the ceiling came down on me. I could still hear the horrible noise of the tree falling behind me--it was a lot more than just one limb--but there was insulation flying all around and big chunks of plaster landing on me. I felt like one of those characters in a video game trying to outrun an explosion, but at least I got beyond the larger branches.</div> <bR> <div> Doug came running and got to me about the time the crashing stopped. We went outside to survey the damage, and I realized just how close I'd come to getting myself killed. A huge limb had come down right where I was standing. It crushed Doug's pickup and another badly damaged my car. It was a very immediate lesson in how quickly everything can change, and the closest I've ever come to getting killed.</div> <bR> <div> The odds of this happening with both of us there makes me shudder. We've been living in Cobb now for a few months, making trips to empty more of our belongings out of the house, but rarely are we both there at the same time. A few minutes before the tree came down, Doug was eating his lunch on the tailgate of his truck and I was leaning against the hood of my car, eating sushi! We were damned lucky things turned out the way they did. My thanks to our daughter Sarah for taking pictures of the damage. Wouldn't you know it, neither Doug nor I had a camera!</div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="753" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 306 ><NOBR><div> <IMG SRC="00d77190.jpg" border=0 width="375" height="281" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> The tree appears to have rotted away at the base.</div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR><div> <IMG SRC="00f77190.jpg" border=0 width="375" height="281" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> That big limb landed where I was standing!</div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 306 ><NOBR><div> <IMG SRC="01177190.jpg" border=0 width="375" height="281" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> The tree shattered, and the limbs were full of water.</div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR><div> <IMG SRC="01377190.jpg" border=0 width="375" height="281" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> The back end of the house is badly damaged.</div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 306 ><NOBR><div> <IMG SRC="01577190.jpg" border=0 width="375" height="281" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR><div> <IMG SRC="01777190.jpg" border=0 width="375" height="281" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> One limb went through the windshield of my Nissan.</div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 306 ><NOBR><div> <IMG SRC="01977190.jpg" border=0 width="375" height="281" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR><div> <IMG SRC="01b77190.jpg" border=0 width="375" height="281" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> I had been sitting in there just minutes earlier.</div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 287 ><NOBR><div> <IMG SRC="01d77190.jpg" border=0 width="375" height="281" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR><div> <IMG SRC="01f77190.jpg" border=0 width="375" height="281" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 306 ><NOBR><div> <IMG SRC="02177190.jpg" border=0 width="375" height="281" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR><div> <IMG SRC="02377190.jpg" border=0 width="375" height="281" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> Rot around the base is obvious--now!</div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <div> <A HREF="id2.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="cleanup"><U>More pics, including clean-up and what it USED to look like...</U></A></div> </td> </tr></table></body>