Oh Sandy, I took you for granted.

[jatoxico]

Very few people know that we had a very isolated but very intense storm hit our area Aug 4th. For those in the affected area it was a disaster but folks even a couple blocks away could not understand what the big deal was until they saw for themselves.

I ended up with 12 large trees down in my back yard and 6 in the front. This was much worse than Hurricane Sandy. The only saving grace was that the damage was not so wide spread so crews were not stretched so thin. Even so my block was not passable for about 36-48 hrs and power took 3+.

Given that we have had 2 substantial hurricanes in the past couple years, a couple nor-easters and now this, I ended up keeping very little wood (I know right!). Unless I add a stove or change my habits I'm about 5 yrs ahead. What I did keep was for a friend. Although I did some cutting to clear the driveway and to get to my sheds I had pros do the major clean-up as it was a dangerous tangles mess and far more than one guy could handle safely.

My back property was a mess however but I finally cleared enough to get to and start splitting the wood I have in the round from Sandy. I thought I had about 2 cords in the round left to split but it may be closer to 3. I had finally gotten that area pretty clear and now I'm back to where I was. Probably another cord fell back there that needs to be bucked.

Pic #1 is after the storm, Pic #2 is post cleanup. Others are today's work with the Fiskars.

 

[STIHLY DAN]

So you have the ultimate scrounge, Trees in your own yard and your not keeping it. I could not do that in a million years. You sir are a better man than me.

 

[jatoxico]

So you have the ultimate scrounge, Trees in your own yard and your not keeping it. I could not do that in a million years. You sir are a better man than me.

Actually a better man might have been up to it! But it was just too much to process and hump all at once not to mention the house and was damaged so I was dealing with contractors and insurance etc etc. Wood hasn't been that hard to come by lately so I let most of it go. The 8-9 cords I already have were from my property or very near by. My buddy got a decent locust score out of it.

The only tree I regret not getting at least some of was a 40"ish mulberry that landed clear across the road onto my neighbors property. The road is lower than both of our yards so it was suspended 4-5' in the air in the middle of the street. The town had to go back for bigger saws and needed a payloader to assist. Once they started it was in the trucks and gone. I'm not great at estimating but that was a multiple cord tree. Counted at least 85 rings.

 

[Lake Girl]

Glad to hear you folks are alright but sorry to hear of the property damage. How bad is the house damage?

Hopefully the trees are going to a good cause in heating someone's house ... three years from now.

 

[jatoxico]

Glad to hear you folks are alright but sorry to hear of the property damage. How bad is the house damage?

Hopefully the trees are going to a good cause in heating someone's house ... three years from now.

Hi LG. Thankfully damage to house looked worse than it turned out to be. White pine from neighbor snapped and hit chimney for the furnace/water heater and a fireplace damaging the clay tile (chimney for stove is unharmed!). Pine then rolled off and toppled a group of large cedars. These landed on the roof ripping off some shingles, soffit and gutters also damaged. On the way to the ground they tore the electric mast and meter from side of house. Multiple fences, mailbox and exterior lighting downed as well.

All in all though not too bad, many others had it much worse. One home had a large oak go right through the house all the way to the ground. This all happened in about 3-5 min! Funny thing is not one of my wood stacks was downed. There was so many trees down you could not walk but somehow they were all spared.

 

[Lake Girl]

Sounds bad enough ... Chimney may have saved you from far worse house damage. With the mast & meter damage, no live wires? You got power back in 3 hours ... very fast work on the utilities part.

Where does the town haul their wood for disposal? May still be able to get some of that mulberry

 

[kennyp2339]

Sounds bad enough ... Chimney may have saved you from far worse house damage. With the mast & meter damage, no live wires? You got power back in 3 hours ... very fast work on the utilities part.

Where does the town haul their wood for disposal? May still be able to get some of that mulberry

3+ meaning days I would think.

 

[jatoxico]

Sounds bad enough ... Chimney may have saved you from far worse house damage. With the mast & meter damage, no live wires? You got power back in 3 hours ... very fast work on the utilities part.

Where does the town haul their wood for disposal? May still be able to get some of that mulberry

Kennyp is right it was 3 days w/o power. Generators are good to have on hand and mine has been getting used regularly these last few years. Power line wise there were at least four poles down on my street including the one right in front of my house. The electrician I used to replace the mast/meter was a reference from my neighbor. Guy ended up doing 6 houses on the block that I know of and was very fair, no gouging. He gave me a price and it turned out that the cable from the meter yanked the service panel inside the house. He fixed w/o adding to the bill. Good guy.

That mulberry was a shame. I could have claimed some of the trunk but I'm generally not interested in 36-40" diameter rounds, just too much effort given my equipment, especially under the circumstances. Anything that I could have handled was in the street tangled with electric and cable wires. The utility and cleanup crews really didn't need home owners in the way and gathering firewood would not have been seen as a priority given the safety concerns.