In The Still Of The Night?

Not here.  I woke at 2:20 this morning and there was a storm outside.  Nothing that seemed too major except for the wind.  Not much thunder and lightning but I remember becoming concerned at one point when the howl of the wind did not abate quickly.  All I could think was, 'tornado?'  Then it finally was whipped around again.  This morning I took a cursory glance outside, I knew I would be picking up sticks later.  But I was not expecting what I found when I got home.

Another large branch had broken off our silver maple in back.  I could see by the divot that it landed about 2 feet out from the porch roof, then fell over toward Dave's house, causing no damage thankfully.  This one was about 20 feet long, 4 inches in diameter at its widest.  (By comparison, our Easter Sunday branch was probably almost 40 feet, 9 or so inches in diameter - So they're getting smaller!)  This is after we had the tree trimmed over a year ago when we moved in.  Perhaps the trimming exposed other branches or perhaps they just trimmed rather than consider the structure of the tree.  Either way, how many more have to fall until it has to be removed?  That would be a costly, messy operation as well.

I didn't take the time to get the camera.  I knew it wasn't going to be fun, close to 90 humid degrees and hordes of mosquitos, so I just got to it.  Now there is a bigger pile of sticks out front and some smaller logs for next years firepit.  That's another thing to remember next year- use the firepit early and often next year before the mosquitoes take over.

Oh well, how was your day?