Wind Storm at our House in the Forest

When we built our house two years ago, we debated taking out more trees.  I posed the question on Facebook about whether we should take out enough trees to make a good solar site for our south facing roof, and the tree huggers came out of the woodwork.  Partly because of that reaction from the general public, we left more trees than was prudent.  Last night we paid the price for that decision!

When we returned through a ferocious wind storm last night from an evening of playing cards with friends in Mt Vernon, we were happy when our motion sensor light came on and we knew we had power.  Then we noticed the tree that had fallen on the house.

As soon as it got light this morning, I went out and took pictures, and it didn't look much better in the light of day, but at least it hadn't leaked overnight.

The tree broke when it hit the house, and the top landed on the back side of the house.  At least it missed all three of our skylights!

A friend recommended Chad White, Evolution Tree Experts LLC,  (425 754-4196) and they were able to get out today to deal with the tree.  Chad arrived with a crew of five men, the sharpest chainsaws I have ever seen, a bucket truck, a chipper, and a powerful blower.  We can highly recommend this company!  They did a super job of getting all the branches, the tree itself, and all the debris removed without further harming the roof.  They even put a tarp over the four puncture holes that we discovered when the tree and debris were removed.

We ended up with a pile of firewood and a pile of woodchips that I will use to mulch my flower beds.

We have the Wayne Perrigoue, our builder, coming out in the morning to assess the structural and roof damage, so hopefully, it will soon be "like it never happened".

Nurse Logs on My Morning Walk

When I went out on my walk today, I started to notice all the nurse logs and stumps and just how beautiful they are.

It makes me wonder what this area looked like to the original explorers who saw these massive trees before they became nurse stumps.

A long time ago I read that when Lewis and Clark saw the huge trees in the Pacific Northwest they assumed that the soil was very rich.  As you can see from the roots on this tree, they can cling to nearly anything and thrive.

As the stump rots, all kinds of little nooks and crannies are created to make habitat for little wild critters.

Eventually, the old tree is completely gone, and only the above ground roots show that it ever existed.

All the nurse logs, are also great for providing fun places for children to explore, play hide-n-seek,  and build forts.