Fallen Oak Tree

On July 20, 2008 we had a nasty thunderstorm. I went out on the back porch to watch the lightning. This was about a week after our exterior remodeling project was completed. I looked to the south where most of the thunder and lightning originated. It was very windy. As I turned back to to the east, I noticed one of our large oak trees had fallen, not far from the porch. I didn't hear a sound. This puts to rest the question "If a tree falls in the woods does it make a sound?"

A picture of the tree just after it fell, taken from the back porch.

Ten minutes later, after the rain stopped, I took this picture from the base of the tree. The tree is over 100 feet in length.

The other end of the tree.

The tree was adjacent to another oak tree. They probably started from separate acorns and eventually joined at the base.

The tree "tipped over." Here you can see the roots pulled out of the ground. We have sandy soil.

The tree landed between our newly finished porch and our shed.

The Ward Brothers to the rescue. We have had to take down many trees over the 38 years we have lived in this house. For almost all of our tree work, we have used the Ward Brothers. In the early days they had very little equipment and mainly worked as a twosome. Over the years, they added people and equipment. They have always done a great job. As soon as the tree fell, I called them.

Now they have a crane. They moved it into our side yard.

We decided to remove the other oak that grew up with the fallen oak. We did not want to have that one fall on our neighbor's house. Here is one of the Wards in the tree, lifted there by the crane.

A closeup of the tree guy. They from worked form top to bottom. He would tie off a section to the crane and then cut about 10-20 feet from the tree.

Lifting a piece of the tree with the crane.

A view from the back yard.

Some of the pieces they cut weighed 6000 pounds.

The last piece of the first tree.

The last pieces in the side yard waiting for pickup.

The stump grinder in action.

Final step. Loading the pieces onto a truck.

The tree guy counted 110 rings!