Take Me Out to the Ball Game

Yesterday we did some walking around the new Twin's Ballpark - Target Field. Games were being played by high school teams, so that was kind of special for them and for their families. It was a beautiful day to be out walking or watching baseball. We saw a few of the Light Rail cars go by while we were there. I actually managed to take a video of this with my camera and not ruin it by sneezing or having someone walk in front of me.

Bad Weather - Ouch

Half of this tree landed across the street in this neighborhood. Hopefully it didn't damage the house across from this one. The road was either blocked or very slow going in the morning. One thing's for sure, they won't have as many leaves to rake in the fall.

I took this photo in early afternoon so this shows you how quickly everyone got out and cleaned up the tree, branches and twigs. Other than the obvious missing branches, tree trunk stumps, and some missing sidewalk squares, you wouldn't realize how many trees were damaged or destroyed. Our neighbor read in the paper that 2000 trees were affected!

Bad Weather, No Parking

This tree did a lot of damage to the fence and yard, and possibly some damage to the house. Or perhaps it is more than one tree, or this tree caused a domino effect and brought down other tree branches. I do wonder what it sounded like when the tree hit the ground, but I don't actually want the chance to ever hear it. Do you notice the No Parking sign? Look further down the street. Typically the signs are about six feet tall. This one was pushed down into the ground by the weight of the tree. Perhaps if it had fallen from a little bit different angle, it would have bent the sign post. But this sign is going to be difficult to take out. Yeah, I know, they probably have the proper equipment to yank this sign right out of the ground and replace it with a new one that is the correct height.

Bad Weather - Something's Gotta Give

The tree split off and most likely blocked the driveways for a while in the morning. As you can see, when the tree got uprooted, it took the sidewalk section with it. The people in the house in the background suffered no visible damage to the actual house. The homeowner said that if the tree had to come down, it came down in the best place. His wife then reminded him to stop talking to all the passersby and keep raking.

Interestingly enough, a few houses down was another tree that made it through the night and through the storm. It had a large red painted dot on it. That means it is destined for cutting down. Too bad it couldn't have toppled instead of this one.

Bad Weather Makes Weakest (Chain) Link (Fence)

This tree tipped over at its base. It may be that the roots girdled the tree and tipping over was inevitable. Tree experts and city foresters will tell you that many trees have been planted wrongly. See next post for more on that.

This tree landed on a chain link fence. It did not do much good for the fence. I think there may be some damage to the house also. You can see different views of the base of the tree trunk. It would be interesting to have the city forester look at these different trees and speculate on why some trees toppled while others held their ground.

At least the two boys found that a tree is much easier to climb when it is close to the ground!

Bad Weather - Tipsy Tree

This tree tipped over at the base. I'm not sure, but it might be a Linden tree. We used to have a Linden tree. It was about this size, maybe a little bit bigger. One night, one windy night, it tipped over. Just like this one. Most likely it was root bound. For future reference, when you buy a new tree and plant it, the roots should not be confined inside a burlap root ball. They need to be stretched out or cut so that they don't eventually girdle the tree at its base.

I only did a quick Google search, but here is some information from the University of Minnesota about the correct way to plant a tree. Pay special attention to the section with Figure 3. Cutting pattern for rootbound container stock.

Later in the day on Friday, this tree had been cut back to the point that it was just a trunk with a few short branches at the top of the trunk.

Read the next post for lots more information about the storm.

Bad Weather

We were promised bad weather for Thursday night by all the weather gurus and we got it. It turns out that there was a tornado in the northwest part of town that was responsible for the worst of it. Some homes suffered a lot of damage. Roofs are gone, garages separated from houses.

Our part of town was luckier. There were downed branches and trees all over, but not the extensive damage that was caused by the tornado. On the way to work, people often had to figure out quick detours because many roads were blocked off.

I will digress here just a little bit to say, "People, the street is blocked off with barriers!" We watched about ten cars drive through on the green light and weave their way past the saw-horse barriers that had been put on a street. Large branches were easily visible and yet they drove through the barriers. In about fifteen seconds, they all had made a U-turn and were heading for a different route. "People, the street is blocked off with barriers and you can see tree limbs, huge tree limbs in the street!"

Anyway, some people had to call co-workers for rides to work because they could NOT get out of their driveway. All day long you could hear chain saws. By late afternoon, most streets in our area were cleared. Some of the trees were trimmed just enough today for traffic to get by and the rest of clean-up will be tomorrow, but I was amazed at how quickly and efficiently it all got done. Our neighbors were out in their yards doing clean-up. People down the street sawed off the parts of the tree that were blocking the sidewalk. The street cleaners were out getting the smaller twigs and leaves out of the street so that they don't clog the storm drains. Insurance claim cars were driving in the neighborhoods. It's like well-oiled machinery.

Rain Rain Go Away

Yes, I understand. We are the water planet out of the eight or nine planets in our Solar System. (Sorry Pluto.) But I am getting tired of the constant dribble and drizzle. Everyone's grass is getting so long. I worry that the beans I planted will rot and I will have to replant again and it will take that much longer before I have beans to eat.

Of course, for me, it is just an inconvenience. Luckily we have had just steady light rains for the most part. Down in Oklahoma and Arkansas they are having flooding with property damage and loss of life. So we don't really have it that bad at all. Just the natural tendency of people to complain about the weather all the time. If it's hot, we want it cooler. If it's raining, we want it drier. And if it's hot and dry, we want cool, wet weather.

This photo shows the grass next to our garage. I counted over 140 mushrooms where we usually have none. Wednesday is what I hear for an appearance by the sun.

"Gentlemen, start your lawnmowers."