an ultimate Widow Maker -
my last post... within the realm of things to be or not to be... came very close to being my last post this morning! very close as in within 12 hours out of most likely 100 years! maybe more. you see... we had an ultimate
Widow Maker event happen at our place... and nearly 18 hrs later or so... I am still very much in shock over it!
let me say that again:
so I have this really large pine tree in my yard here in town. really big! someone said largest in Houston he has ever seen!
it has been mine for over 45 years. and it was huge then when I got it. and so how old is it? dunno... 75, 80, maybe over 100 years old. big, tall... majestic and steady as a rock! steady as a palisade... rock solid. majestic and beautiful.
yesterday I spend couple hours working in area directly in, around and under this large pine tree. nbd, done it a million times, or close I am sure. this or that. I am working on a project redo so since it was so brutally hot here yesterday... I laid it out on lawn and went back to it later in cooler evening. oblivious to any danger... for surely there was none!
this morning... on computer and
... I hear 3 cracks and crashes. one c r ac k ! quite loud. the QB hollars... "omg, what was that!??" I look outside thru window see nothing. but she is putting shoes on and heading out. returns moments later and says, 'You better come here!" [oh sh*t! I think to myself...]
oh s....t! is right!!! right where I was working yesterday (Sunday morning) and Sunday evening... along path we walk our pups... and also walk to compost bins... a huge Widow Maker limb had cracked off the pine tree, midway up - taking 3 other limbs with it and come crashing down. hundreds and hundreds of pounds of wood that was once for many years high in the treetops... now on the ground. it hit and landed right where i was working just yesterday, as late as last night! those who have seen it all agree... a tree in itself... off the side of the tree. wood, but to me might as well have been stone! 12"-14" in diam big end and about 30' long +/-... right were I was working... and had planned to work this morning, but had not got out there just yet. had left part of project there, but ez to finish and I had planned to. today. and soon...
there is still a widow maker hanging in the tree. an arborist I know and have used will cut and clean it all up for me... he is a 2nd generation climber, cutter tree guy... and we will do some cleaning up... upstairs... and reshaping and removing some weight as there is one more really huge limb in the tree. but its at a 45-degree angle. the one that fell this morning more so horizontal. I walk thru my neighborhood all the time seeing horizontal limbs of pines and oaks. always saying wow, so much weight, how can the tree hold on to it? well, this morning... mine did not!
for me and my family, this was a close call! within hours... a very close call. no one could have survived it. the crack, the look up if time, the shock... could not move. (try it!) its impossible to react that fast... and wham. prob DAS. dead at scene. crush all my chest bones, organs... and bleed to death, if not knocked out immediately. latter would be a blessing! we see vids of trees acting, reacting in unexpected ways! funny almost, and scary, too. widow makers! this was not funny and definitely scary! the kind of scare that scares the well, you know... right out of you. we cannot think of it any other way but... a widow maker!
it was kinda quiet around our place today. lots of prayers of thanks! felt a closeness to my Guardian Angel, too. we both did!
I know you guys are all pros! but, it don't hurt to say it again:
be careful!
I was lucky! we were lucky! we were blessed to have it be a non-event other than a downed limb.
I am still in shock over it all!! and yes! I do believe in miracles. have seem many. imo, this is another one...
our almost ultimate widow maker
Got the trunk out and cut today. 15 2’+ long rounds. Couldn’t have done it if he hadn’t brought the John Deere 410, even then it was touch and go. The side of the road was super soft and the one outrigger kept burying itself.
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