A Mighty Wind

 

by Pa Rock

Man of the Earth ~

For several days the Ozarks have been blanketed in dreary clouds and rain, but that seems to finally be yesterday's news. Today the sun is out and the skies are bright blue and cloudless.  The soaked earth finally has a chance to dry.  We received LOTS of rain.   The local creeks are up beyond their banks, but I have not heard any reports of dangerous flooding or people being trapped and cutoff by the rising waters.

I am not a fan of maple trees because they split so easily and produce roots above ground that interfere with mowing, but regardless of my personal tree preferences, there are numerous maple trees on this acreage that I refer to as a "farm," with two large maples behind the house on the other side of the driveway where I park the car.  Saturday afternoon during a particularly heavy downpour, a big wind roared down from the hills and across the yard fracturing one of the largest limbs in one of those mighty twin maples.  The limb broke at the tree trunk and fell across the driveway and onto the deck.  It did not separate completely from the tree, which left it as a bridge across the driveway that I was able to back my car under and get it to a safer location.  Amazingly, there was no damage to the house or the car

The deck was covered in a profusion of wet, leafy branches and inaccessible for a day until my son and a friend turned the whole mess into firewood on Sunday.

I've never conducted a tree census here on the farm, but there are fifty or sixty trees on the ten acres, with many of the pines, oaks, and hickories being massive.  There are six pines more than forty feet in height which would take out the house if any one fell just right, so we tend to take wind and rain very seriously.  Our little house has a dry and secure basement which is where we head when the mighty winds come roaring in.

Sooner or later nature will win, so it's best to have a plan and a place to go - and stay prepared.