As you might conclude from over 4,000 blog posts, in addition to books and articles, I don’t usually struggle with writer’s block. But, every once in a while, I sit down to write a blog post, and, even though I have drafts ready, a healthy list of potential blog post ideas, and photos waiting to be used, it just doesn’t happen. The drafts aren’t what I want to share on that particular day, the post ideas require too much lead time, and the photos aren’t inspiring. Sometimes I can push out a post on those days because I buckle down and do the job, but on a few rare days, I realize I need to let it go and work on other things. So, that’s what I did on Wednesday. I worked on some other writing projects, finished an oil painting, cleaned up my e-mail inbox, and took some pictures for Thursday’s post to make it easier on myself the next time I sat down to write.
As I was finishing up my morning walk with Sebastian, we walked by our side yard and I noticed a limb from our neighbor’s tree had fallen. It looked like it might’ve clipped our fence and perhaps we had some brush in our yard, so I went through the house to the backyard to check.
Oh, okay…so a pretty substantial branch had clipped our fence and fallen into our yard and pool! We had a gusty day and some rain on Wednesday, but I went outside about 9:30 that night to take Sebastian out one more time before bed and everything looked good, so it must’ve happened overnight. I knew that my plans for the day would have to change and, even though I had a blog post lined up, it wasn’t likely to happen.
There were several things to be thankful for, though. First and foremost, no one was hurt. Second, the tree branch fell in a direction that caused minimal damage to both properties. Third, we have really great neighbors and knew it wouldn’t be a stressful situation where we’re trying to figure out who is responsible for what. We knew we would work together to get things cleaned up. Lastly, it could’ve been much worse and, for many in the path of Hurricane Beryl, it is worse. When put in proper perspective, it’s just a bit of a mess to clean up.
My parents were coming over so my dad could do some water therapy for his knee in the pool and my mom could float, so I worked on cutting the branches around the pool and getting the leaves and branches in the water cleaned up.
I got what I could with the pruners and a rake, skimmed the pool, and ran the pool vacuum a couple of times.
The rest would have to wait for reinforcements.
I was a little worried about my smushed bushes and was hoping we’d be able to get the weight off of them sooner rather than later so they would have a better chance of bouncing back.
We didn’t know specifically when our neighbor was coming to help (he is a contractor and has the right tools and equipment for this kind of job), but Jeff decided we could get started and tackle what we could with a small electric chainsaw. Jeff cut and the boys and I carried branches to the curb and raked up smaller bits to move in the wheelbarrow.
After their swim and exercise, my parents sat at the patio table and watched the show. They said the family clean-up was surprisingly entertaining. As the cut pieces of trunk fell further into the butterfly bush and Japanese hollies, I cringed at each cracking branch. I carried out one of the cut pieces and said to my mom, “It’s a little heartbreaking.” I knew it was small compared to what many people are dealing with, but it was still okay to take a moment to acknowledge the damage that was done to an area we’ve worked hard on this spring and summer. I was planning on ripping out the butterfly bush but once we removed the dying hemlocks last summer and it had more room to stretch and get light, it was looking healthier and I decided it was a keeper. I loved the dark purple blooms peeking behind the holly bushes and developed an affection for it, but it was clear the butterfly bush took the brunt of the fall. At the same time, though, I knew that butterfly bushes grow quickly and it’ll bounce back. Next spring, we probably won’t even notice the damage. The holly bushes would be a little slower to recover, but it was still hard to determine the extent of the damage.
Two of the small phantom hydrangeas I planted this spring were pinned under branches. One was impaled by a branch that was embedded over 12″ into the ground. Our neighbor arrived with his gear and a few extra sets of hands to help and we were able to make short work of the rest. He’ll also haul all of the brush away since he has the vehicles to do it.
Once the fallen branch was gone, we finished raking up the leaves and small branches, I pruned the broken branches off the butterfly bush, Japanese hollies, and hydrangeas. It was already looking better.
I staked what was left of the two smushed hydrangeas and gave them some water. I’m hopeful they’ll bounce back, but they were little $12 cuttings from Home Depot so it won’t be terrible if I have to replace them.
The branch fell right in the middle of the butterfly bush, breaking most of the largest branches and bending one until it was almost touching the ground. Jeff put a ratchet strap around it in the hopes it’ll help the branch recover. I need to do a bit more pruning and replace some mulch, but I think it’ll be fine.
It seems a shame that we just put up a brand new fence only to have a branch fall on it, but it actually was a fortunate thing. That branch would’ve obliterated the old fence. The new 2×4 actually caught the bulk of the weight and likely saved the mature holly bushes, which are much harder to replace than a few fence pickets. I even kept a few extras just in case. We need to shore things up in a few places, but everything fared pretty well.
Our neighbor’s fence, which isn’t even two years old, did pretty well, too. A couple of sections are bent but it’s still a functional fence.
When I walked out in the backyard this morning, there were only little clues that a branch had fallen and I was really pleased with the clean-up and what was spared.
I will tell you, though, I was toast. After a 3-mile walk, cleaning up the pool (skimming out branches can be an upper arm workout), hauling branches, raking, and pruning, I had racked up over 18,000 steps on the pedometer and was exhausted. And, I didn’t get a blog post done.
But, sometimes plans change.
Thanks for posting. We missed you on Thursday!!
So glad things were not worse and you have great neighbors to settle this type of issue. Life seems to happen when you least expect it!
I was growing a little concerned that the storm might have done some damage too. I love butterfly bushes too. Did you know that they also come dwarf size too? Also if you wanted bushes that are similar and perhaps would make a nice hedge on the metal fence side consider Vitex. Blooms are large and beautiful. Our neighbors planted a hedge and it is very hardy.
You have a wonderful attitude!
Amen! What a gift to see and to share the bright side and also be honest about the sorrow for the loss. You are a blessing!
life interferes with … well, life. we all get it and understand. Could have been much worse. 💗
That was a pretty decent size limb that fell so I am surprised it didn’t do more damage, so you are lucky. Great that you have good neighbors because fallen trees can sometimes be a big dispute among homeowners as to responsibility. Last year, a huge old hickory tree split in half and was dangling dangerously close to my mothers house from her neighbors. She had to leave her home and stay with my brother until the homeowner next door got a tree company to come out and brace the tree until it was safely removed.
One year we had a limb fall on one of my small red bud trees that I just planted. It was split almost in two, so my husband taped it together with electrical tape hoping it would hold. After a year and half, it has grafted back together. Amazingly it worked. Glad you didn’t have any serious damage.
Yep. Our neighbor’s tree took a direct hit from lightning and we helped duct tape it back together and in a year or so you’d never know anything happened. But I appreciated that even though it could have been worse, of course, you still allowed yourself to admit the very human emotions of shock, a bit of grief and exhaustion.
I got a kick out of your parents watching it all from the pool. I’m the same age as your parents and I can relate. “We care…but we’ll be over here.”
Oh wow!!!!! Well you have a fabulous winning attitude. But geez Louise that was unfortunate. Thank the good Lord Above that that big ole tree branch didn’t hit anyone’s house or vehicle. I did find out something – at least here in Ohio – due to my Mother-in-laws experience. Her next door neighbors neglected dead tree that she has been begging them for years to cut down so it doesn’t fall on either of their houses finally DID fall and it fell on hers. And – get this – it was HER insurance that had to pay. No theirs. Even though she begged for at least 5 years for them to take precautions and cut the dead tree down. We were shocked, but that’s the insurance game I guess. She was so upset. Glad you were spared anything like that.
Hope you do get some relaxing pool time in – you’ve earned it.
Yeah, I actually looked up tree law out of curiosity and it varies from state to state. In Maryland, it is the homeowner’s responsibility to clean up and repair damage on their property even if it is from a neighbor’s tree. It is considered an “act of God” and isn’t the responsibility of the neighbor. The exception seems to be is neglect or knowledge of a dead tree/limb can be proven.
Yes, it is wonderful to have helpful neighbors!
You bet things change! We’d had a wind storm (in Houston, TX) and the yard needed a general cleaning up, replanting, etc. in preparation to sell. Literally, the same day, our yard guy wasn’t even home and the derecho hit. You wouldn’t believe the mess. Knocked our fence down which honestly was sort of rotten and fallen limbs put a hole in the roof. Got that all cleaned up and the roof repaired. Then guess what? The eye of Beryl went over our house. Another clean up, another hole in our roof and 2 sides of the fence down. Our governor is on va-ca in Asia, our electric provider neglected to call in help and we are still without power—July in Houston…horrible! Thank you for letting me vent here. And thank you for the encouraging post.
The best part is having a helpful mentality about surroundings neighbour.
When we lived in PA, 20 miles N of Philly, we had a storm blow through causing 7 of our neighbor’s trees to fall on our fence. The neighbor was still building and had contractors with dump trucks, tractors, and brush/tree limb shredder, etc… on site. We asked him to help pull the trees off our fence and shred the trees since he already had the equipment. He called the police and told them we were harassing him. It cost almost $4,000 for a co. to remove the trees off the fence, shred the limbs, and take away the brush AND our insurance went from $700 to $1400. Marian, you are very lucky you have such a great neighbor!!!