Thursday, February 5, 2015

Post Storm - Finally the Worse is Over

I knew it was going to be a long haul, cleaning up this windstorm mess. And it proved to be true. But we finally have all the damaged trees down, at least I think we have. Not all cut up and the slash hauled away, but at least down. My goal was to drop visually damaged tress, but also those the had audibly detectable cracking. The wind the past two days swayed the trees about, causing internally damaged ones to either pop, creak, groan, moan, or chatter. 

The problem now is that we have several very tall trees that are loners. They have lost their neighboring support system. That means that they could very well blow over in the next heavy wind, which could be next week or maybe 20 years from now. We just can't predict that. 

Since all the loner trees are eucalyptus, we'll most likely cut them down over time. A few are in difficult locations, so those we won't attempt to drop. We will let Mother Nature deal with them since those trees are far enough away from buildings and the gardens that they won't damage anything of value. I just have to remember not to build anything within their reach. 

I'm gradually cutting up the trunks and getting them stored for future use. The slash piles will take a few more weeks of work to get them all hauled into the biotrash pits. 

Throughout all this work I've managed to only injure myself once. No cuts, scrapes, or bruises. What a surprise! But I did drop a chunk of heavy wood on my foot and broke a toe. Eeeee! That hurt! Luckily it wasn't a big toe, so it will heal up. Not the first time I've smashed a toe, but I hope it's the last. 

3 comments:

  1. Good to hear that your eucalypts are far away from anything valuable - they have a nasty habit of simply flopping down, even in dead-calm conditions. The Aussies never plant them anywhere near their buildings. And - broken toes are terrible, so I think you might want to get some steel-toed boots when you do that timber stuff....

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  2. Barry, do they make steel toes slippahs? LOL! I'm a diehard Croc wearer and I've never seen steel toed ones. Yup, my old steel toed boots that I used to wear back on the mainland when working around horses just don't seem Hawaiian enough. Too hot and too heavy. So I take my chances with lighter footgear. So this time I'm paying the price with a broken toe. But it's not too bad. I've had broken toes before (from horses, no less) so I know the routine. It will heal in a few weeks.

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  3. I'm with Barry. I always wear my steel-toed boots when I'm doing anything out with the livestock or in the field. They make light-weight tennis shoe type ones now! I have to buy waterproof so they don't fall apart in three months, also, but to protect my feet, it's worth the investment.

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