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Our Bad ... Tree, That Is
Friday, August 1, 2008 at 01:44PM 
Happy August! I do not like August. It is too hot in August. Happy August!
In other news ... we have, as they say, a situation.
A situation involving a tree.
A situation involving a tree in my front yard.
Allow me to elaborate.
I do thank God that no one was hurt. Only, now I have terrible guilt. David's keys were on the kitchen counter the whole time.
Last Saturday I was taking some rigorous exercise that included walking up and down the fifteen steps that lead to (and from) my front door. Again and again. Until I was like to die of exhaustion. Ten times in all ... do the math, y'all. In between bouts of stair climbing I trod a loop comprised of my front walk and the top fourth of our semi-steep driveway, and back. This allowed my legs time to feel like legs once more, rather than very heavy noodles, before I had to take the fifteen steps again.
Meanwhile The Gregory (a/k/a TG), assisted by Andrew (who was home for the weekend) was doing some yard work. I'm sure they both thought I looked funny. Ask me if I care.
On one of my loops down the walk and up the driveway supported only by heavy (but nicely tanned, if I do say so) noodles and dogged determination, I noticed something. A very tall and mature hickory tree to the right of our driveway was in desperate need of pruning. One of its lower limbs, laden with hundreds of bright-green bulbous hickory nuts, was grazing the ground. The tree, which is probably sixty feet tall and stands on a slope, was leaning toward the street even more than it usually does.
"That tree right there needs pruning," I said to TG as I headed for the steps again. I pointed helpfully, panting. A drop of something might have dripped off me.
TG glanced toward the tree. "Oh really. Hmph." ... (standard-issue TG response).
Yeah. Really. Hmph.
Fast forward through the sweat and humidity of a South Carolina last-week-in-July to yesterday. I had done my draconian stair-climbing routine several times in the morning. My reward was a refreshing hour in the pool before getting ready to go out for the evening. I was home alone. I had piped Josh Groban outside and was floating blissfully, improving my tan, when I heard a very strange cracking sound emanating from ... somewhere. Where? Out front? Up above? The next yard?
I looked up at the massive oak, home to a million cicadas and a thousand frogs, that towers over our domicile. I heard the cracking noise again but didn't see anything amiss. Craaaack. I looked over at our neighbor's house. Was he doing something over there, making that funny noise? Please stop! All I saw was a bird sitting on his roof. The bird could not have made the cracking noise, could he? Something told me not.
Craaaaack crack!
I looked up at our roof. This time it sounded like someone was up there with a big whip, whipping away. I checked to see if someone had gotten onto our roof and was whipping it. Nope. The only thing on our roof was a few twigs that had dropped from the oak. It was very windy yesterday.I never once thought of the leaning hickory tree to the right of our driveway.
The cracking noises stopped. A few minutes later I went inside. I took a shower. I ate a salad. I brushed my teeth. I put on makeup. I went to my room, which is in the front of the house, to dress before blow-drying my hair. I put my skirt on. I had my top in my hand. And that's when I heard it ... a final Crack! and a dull but decisive thud.
I looked out my window to confirm what I already knew. The hickory tree had fallen. Luckily our driveway is long and the tree's upper branches did not reach into the street.
Only problem was ...
(Click on the picture to see more!)
... our nephew, David, who lives in Charlotte, North Carolina, is in town for a few days to help TG with a huge job. They are both painting contractors. David had parked his truck in our driveway (where else?) ... and now there is a tree on his truck.
A sixty-foot-tall hickory tree.
Sorry David! Love you, buddy. Calling Allstate as we speak!
I do thank God that no one was hurt. Only, now I have terrible guilt. David's keys were on the kitchen counter the whole time. If I hadn't been so intent on getting ready to go out, maybe I would have had the presence of mind to connect what I saw on Saturday with what I heard while I was in the pool. Maybe I would have gone outside and observed that the tree's trunk was cracking in a horizontal fashion approximately two feet up from the ground, and was about to fall. Maybe I would have then taken thirty seconds of my precious time to move David's truck and the tree wouldn't have fallen on it.
Too late.
Better deal with life's little situations when you see them developing, y'all. Before they become big situations, that is.
Don't wait. Do it now!
Reader Comments (19)
Oh, sorry about your nephew's truck. You draw a good lesson from it though.
Was David angry?
Thanks Ruth! Oh, no ... not David. He is the sweetest, most easygoing person you'll ever meet. He has the most darling wife and two adorable children. He is a committed Christian and I'm sure he took this event as from the Lord! But I still wish it hadn't happened.
And maybe the tree would have brained you as you tried to move the truck! You can fix the truck. Personally I'm glad you didn't risk it. ;)
So, what are hickory nuts and can you eat them?
Love the way you told the story, by the way!
LOL Jay, I thought of that! If I'd gone out there and could have seen that the tree was about to fall, I probably would have been too scared to get in the truck!
Funny thing about the hickory nut part ... I didn't know what kind of tree it was (thought it might have been a black walnut but it didn't look like the right shape ... too tall ... but an aged neighbor lady came immediately out to look at what had happened and she filled me in on the "Hick'ry nut" part! Whether the nuts are edible is anyone's guess! I wouldn't eat one ...
Thanks for the compliment, luv. You are a great storyteller yerownself.
Oh no, that's awful!! Poor truck, poor David...
Don't be too hard on yourself, though, it's not every day you hear a tree cracking to fall, I wouldn't have had a clue what the noise was either!!
Angi, yeah girl, that is the excuse I'm going with!
Oh dear! I'm sorry that happened. At least it didn't fall on your house. Yikes!
That's definitely the upside, Robyn!
It's not like a tree falls down every day. How could you really know? Hindsight is always 20/20. Thankfully no one was hurt. And now look! You don't have to prune it anymore!
I'm very glad you didn't try to move the car - you could have been squished! The car is replaceable, you are not.
I have two huge lime trees very near my house (not the citrus kind) I worry whenever it gets windy.
Hickory eh? Lots of barbecues in the offing? :-)(I googled hickory nuts!)
@ Kathy ... I know you're right. I'm going to stop beating myself up about it!
@ Diane ... Just keep an eye on those lime trees! If you hear a crack, move your car, LOL! We're not big barbecuers but maybe I can sell these hickory nuts to someone who is!
Jenny, Glad you did not brave it out there to save a truck ! You may have timed it wrongly and ended up under the tree yourself. We lost a bradford pear tree in our front yard last week. Lightening and wind took it down in our driveway. No one was hurt and no cars were victim either..... thanking God for that. I do miss my pretty tree. Dixie
Wow! How lucky that no one was hurt!
You go girl with that step walking stuff in that climate. I have a tough enough time walking in 70 degrees!
I echo your sentiment: Thank God no one was hurt! I've done the same thing so many times; I should think a little bit harder and listen to my little voice which is so clear sometimes.,, Anyway, we've got many large oaks and sycamores around us. I'm going to give them all an exam today!
@ LL ... thanks doll. It's hard work but it's got to be done! I will be very thankful when it cools down in about eight weeks!
@ Keli ... good idea. I told TG, now we need to have a tree expert look at the huge oak that shades our house. Looks to me like it needs pruning before winter comes ... we almost never get snow but it's not uncommon to have an ice storm!
Love how you dragggggged out getting ready for your evening out. Doing your hair, putting on a skirt. Hee hee! I agree with the others on the danger of driving under that tree -- even to save a truck.
I'm sorry to hear it happened but happy to know no one was injured (except Old Hickory) and to read the fun story you created about it.
One question though: did this fallen tree take away your evening out? I suppose, if it blocked the driveway...
@ P.L. ... I know! I know! Why use ten words when a hundred will do??? Your question is so funny. Actually, my daughter and I had somewhere to go, and we still went, and we were only a tad bit late. BUT ... we had to take her car, which she had parked on another part of the property (in a place she never normally parks ... long story there), because I could not get my car out of the garage on account of all the limbs!
I think this was a bit of Murphy's Law - when Hurricane Wilma hit here, my son moved his car out of the side yard because of a large plum tree we were worried about, and put in the driveway. So the smaller mahogany tree fell over right on top of it. Didn't do nearly as much damage as we were afraid it had, when we could only look out the window to see a car eaten by a tree!
Tracie I think you are so right re: Murphy's Law! Happily, once the tree was removed it was obvious David's truck hadn't been damaged quite as much as it first looked like it might have been! They'll have it fixed up for him in a jiffy.