This post should have images of beautiful fall leaves turning color with the season, like these…
Fall has arrived at Curbstone Valley
…but, here at Curbstone Valley, sometimes fall takes on a different meaning.
Fall is also a time for falling trees
We had three inches of rain this last weekend, and the first significant rains of the season occasionally cause one of our trees to fall. Sometimes the trees don’t come down until a few days after wet weather, once they’ve absorbed moisture from the soil after our long dry summers. Sure enough, shortly after dark last night a fir tree decided to fall across our road by the creek. With the road blocked the only way to the house was on foot, as poor Mr. Curbstone discovered when he arrived home after a long day.
Although some of our projects occasionally get postponed in favor of others, trees blocking the road require our immediate attention. Dinner was simmering on the stove, but rather than reaching for a knife and fork, it was time to grab some safety gear, the tractor key, and a chainsaw.
Mandatory minimum equipment when you live in the woods
It was dark, but fortunately the headlights from the tractor provided sufficient light to work by. As it was late, we cut the center section of the trunk, and pulled it off the road, and waited until this morning to see what we were left with.
This is less than half of the tree that fell across the road. The cut section on the left was blocking the road last night.
Apparently we now have another construction project to take care of this weekend. As the tree fell across the bridge leading to the house, it took out an entire section of bridge railing.
The bridge railing should look like this
This entire section was destroyed when the tree fell
Only this section of the bridge was damaged, fortunately
Fortunately, except for the railings, the rest of the bridge is solid concrete, and other than one of the bridge pillars chewing up a piece of the tree trunk as it fell, the rest of the bridge seems unscathed.
The trunk clipped this pillar as it fell
We’ll need to buck up the rest of the tree trunk, chip the canopy branches, and repair the bridge over the weekend, but on the upside, at least the road is open again…
Farm Road
We hope your fall is falling a little less than ours!
Fallen trees are something that I associate with autumn here in the UK too Clare. Sometimes like last night we had strong winds and trees heavy with leaves are more likely to fall. Thankfully in nearly 10 years all the weakest of trees have now fallen though the last one to fall was just a few weeks ago and it just missed falling on one of the log cabins.
Glad your dh was able to see that fallen tree in time as he approached it on the road. I hope the weather is kind to you over the weekend so that you can get the bridge repaired.
You should get revenge on that tree and use it for part of the railing it took out. Maybe it fell because it was jealous of the railing? LOL
It’s more likely destined to be firewood. The termites here chew through fir and pine like they’re chomping through marshmallows 😛
Wow, the things you have to deal with living on a farm sound very daunting to me. Do you hoist that chainsaw yourself? I’m impressed!
What a bummer! You do know, I hope, that there are still so many advantages to living in the woods/on a farm. I’d give up this half-acre in a heartbeat! The leaves in your top photo are so pretty! By the way, our rainy/dry seasons are completely opposite of yours here in peninsular Florida.
We love living here, and are lucky to be here. It only gets really scary when we get storms with very high winds. Most of our trees that fall are out in the woods around the property, but we always have the potential of having one land on the road, a car, or the house. Thankfully the last one to hit the house was so brittle and dry, it basically exploded and did very little damage 😉
Sorry about your tree. I didn’t know the storm was that severe at your place. There were a lot of broken trees in Sacramento but they are the spreading-type of trees. Hope this is the last tree that falls.
They’ll be more I’m sure. This property is so heavily wooded in some areas, and with Sudden Oak Death, and loose soils, falling trees aren’t uncommon here in winter. Last year three fell in half a day during a violent storm! It’s important here in fall to remember to look up! 😀
Sorry about the tree falling on your bridge but what beautiful trees they are. How special to live in such a pristine environment.
So sorry, Clare, but looks like all is progressing. As you well know, life is life … if it’s not one thing, it’s another. I’m so impressed with all that you do that you have time to post! I’m in total awe 🙂
Nothing like a fallen tree to delay your dinner, hope it wasn’t too cold by the time you got back. Glad it didn’t do any more damage then it did. Though I’m sure you had other plans for the weekend.
Thankfully dinner was a stew, and happy to stay on simmer while we cleared the road!
Farm work is never done. But, taking out the railing, so unexpected. Trees should be more considerate where they fall. I would make that spruce into a new railing if I were you. LOL.
Clare, it’s a beauty of a railing that the tree took down! I know you’ll restore it to it’s former self and the tree will mulch your garden and give you a bit of fire wood. gail
At least with the wood chipper it makes it easy to make mulch now! 😀
Our beloved trees do become dangerous in storms. Getting the road open again so quickly deserves applauds from all who traverse it. I feel sure you will repair the bridge equal to its former self. I hope this will be it for this sort of fall drama on your farm. ;>)
Usually the weakest trees fall early in the season. Hopefully by the time the larger storms roll through, things will be more stable. We had to clear the road that fast, or we’d be stuck up here! 😉
Dear Clare, What wild weather you have been having and how awful to have such major work with clearing the fallen tree. One can only give thanks that no-one was hurt in the process.
Dear me – a few fallen leaves are quite light hearted compared to your trauma. Lucky most of your bridge was concrete. How very inconsiderate of the tree to interrupt your meal!
Oh boy, too much excitement for me! Let me show this post to Mr. Mouse next time he wants to move to the country. We both would not be any good with a chain saw… I’m impressed how well you solved the problem.
Glad no one was going across the bridge when the tree fell. Luckily there wasn’t more damage and you both sound like you know what you’re doing removing the tree.
Yeah for livin’ the life in the SC Mountains! Where exactly are you guys?