It's a massive tree, one that was here when I moved in 32 years ago. I thought at first that the roots pulled out of the muddy soil but when I had a chance to examine it closer I found that the trunk had actually split.
Also, I figured it had fallen against a pignut hickory but later found it leaning against a much smaller pine. The problem facing us now is how to get it down the rest of the way so we can cut it into pieces.
Here's the west side of the trunk. The cold front plowed through our area all day and wind gusts climbed near 60 mph and never dropped below 50 mph for long. It was just too much pressure for this tree.
Looking south from the meadow, the tree fell to the east and was arrested by another pine.
This shot, from the north side of the truck, shows how completely the trunk was split. I may have heard it fall. Tom says I mentioned some sound but I couldn't see the source from the house, at least not more than a dark shadow.
For four days last week we cut and burned limbs. Tom took the lower limbs off the fallen pine with his chain saw but the tree still stands securely against the other. I suppose there is some risk of it falling if the winds again get that high but I suspect it will stand until we manage to bring it down. Though I mow nearby, there's no reason for me to be beneath it.
We had so much debris (and we're hardly finished) that Tom worked after the sun went down. We've both shoveled ashes from the burn barrel and spread them on the garden.
On Saturday (03/02) Tom piled on a load of limbs before leaving for work and I watched them out the kitchen window to make sure all was well. For a couple of hours I almost thought the fire had gone out. But when I stepped to the window at 8 pm I saw flames that looked like a blowtorch rising up into the sky. When I finally went to bed the worst had passed and I knew things were safe.
So, again Pinehaven becomes less pine and more open space.
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