Winter Woes: Battling Wind, Rain and Flying Branches

[Ivan Seeking]

I hate it when this happens! I'm down in my office and need to get up to the house, but the wind is howling, the rain has been pounding, and fairly large branches are flying around like missiles out there. They keep slamming against the walls of my office and scaring the heck of my poor little kitty who is hiding between my feet at the moment. But this can get to be a real pain at times. The old growth tree is between me and everything else, and in a wind storm, that tree is extremely dangerous...not to mention everything else flying around. Its a good problem but this winter has been something else. We are something like 220% of normal for Jan, we were way over for Dec, and I think they have about a thousand feet of snow on the mountains.

 

[Jelfish]

You have a kitty in your office? That's pretty neat.

 

[Math Is Hard]

Poor Ivan! How far away is the house?

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Poor Ivan! How far away is the house?

300 feet, right through the trees. I think its finally starting to let up, but I have been waiting for over an hour now.

 

[Jelfish]

Ah. That explains the kitty.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

You have a kitty in your office? That's pretty neat.

Why Bun III her majesty, of course!

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Ah. That explains the kitty.

See that's the other problem: I can't go until Bun says it's okay.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

gotta log off in case I get a chance to run.

 

[Math Is Hard]

Good luck, Ivan!

 

[Moonbear]

Maybe you need a bed in that office too. Isn't there a couch out there? Is it a sleeper sofa? If not, maybe it needs to be replaced with one. That way, if Bun decides you're not allowed to go home at night, you can give her a whole big bed to curl up on while you find a corner to nap on until the storm ends.

 

[Integral]

RUN IVAN, RUN!

Actually things have quieted down a lot, it is not even raining now. This evening and last night the wind was really whipping it up.

I have seen Ivan's old growth Doug Fir, it is quite impressive. unfortunately it has spent much of its life on the edge of a clearing. This means it has large limbs quite close to the ground. These limbs can be very unstable, a good stiff wind is a very dangerous thing if you choose to stand near one of these trees.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

I do have a couch and all of the comforts of home... the worst has been when the power goes out in a wind storm, which used to happen like clockwork, in which case I would end up sitting down there in in the dark. Now that really sucks. But when the wind is really howling it's like a war zone out there.

As it turns out I did take one on the head, but luckily it was a small branch and not moving too quickly. Even the little ones can be a bugger though. I had one only about an inch in diameter that punched right through the canopy on my truck a couple of years ago.

 

[zoobyshoe]

But when the wind is really howling it's like a war zone out there.

It sounds like you inherited the winter we had here last year: hard rain nearly every day for weeks and weeks.

This years has been the opposite: very little rain and no severe drops in temp.

As it turns out I did take one on the head, but luckily it was a small branch and not moving too quickly. Even the little ones can be a bugger though. I had one only about an inch in diameter that punched right through the canopy on my truck a couple of years ago.

Last year we had several severe car accidents when large trees (eucalyptus, I think) were knocked right over onto highways.

Maybe you could keep a couple spare hardhats out in the office: one for you, a little one for the kitty.

 

[matthyaouw]

I had one only about an inch in diameter that punched right through the canopy on my truck a couple of years ago.

Yeah, you'd be surprised just how hard a piece of wood can hit something in a storm.

 

[zoobyshoe]

O.K. Never mind hardhats. Dig a deep tunnel to the house.