Icy Trees

[RedRider3141]

39 minutes ago, June Bug said:

That's because it IS worse.  More hot days, and those hot days are hotter.  2011 is still the worst in recent memory, though. 

https://www.currentresults.com/Weather-Decades/USA/TX/Austin/temperature-average-by-decade-austin.php

[hurronnicane]

This was our third significant ice storm in the 26 years we have lived here.  There have been several smaller ones as well.  We have ten acres that includes a large number of live oaks and junipers and they took it in the shorts again.  We also had serious damage to some of our big cedar elms that had survived the previous ice storms.  We were still cleaning up some of the last of the 2021 ice storm when this one hit.  It is so hard to see all the beautiful trees so badly torn up.  During the middle of this slow motion disaster I realized that not only was I looking at months of cleanup at the home place, but that my PTN (personal trail network) was going to require a huge amount of effort to reopen.  A neighbor has allowed me to cut and maintain trails on their property and my trails have slowly grown to about five miles in length.  It took a huge effort to get it all restored last time.  
Our first big storm was in ‘97 and I was thankful to be fit and relatively young as I waded into the cleanup.  I still feel pretty fit but I am 26 years older as I begin this journey again.  

[hurronnicane]

We just had Brian Nash with Nash Brothers Land Services spend a day at our house chipping cedar and removing a big tree limb that was resting on the roof of the barn.   We had a mountain of downed limbs and trees that we had cut in preparation for them and they got it all done!  They also helped us last year as we cleaned up from Uri.  Brian is a mountain biker and great guy and they do really good work.  

[Ridenfool]

That looks like the same machine he brought to Rocky Hill to help build trail last year.

It is a marvel to watch Brian do his magic with it.

[Motopail]

the Wifey gets a new Mustang...

 

 

 

[AntonioGG]

RIP 70+ year old hackberry.  Seeing the hole in the middle tells me it was the right decision after it became unbalanced toward the house.  I know it’s a “trash” tree but that thing provided shade to a quarter of our yard.

[June Bug]

 

14 hours ago, AntonioGG said:

 I know it’s a “trash” tree but that thing provided shade to a quarter of our yard.

We have a tall hackberry on the east fence of our yard.  It's not in great shape with some partially dead limbs, but it provides great shade.  While we could hear oak branches cracking under their ice load in the yard next door and just feet away from the hackberry, it did just fine and only dropped one small, already dead limb. 

Right now it has leafed out robustly and looks better than it has in years.   At some point, though, it will have to go. 

Edited April 19, 2023 by June Bug

[hurronnicane]

15 hours ago, AntonioGG said:

RIP 70+ year old hackberry.  Seeing the hole in the middle tells me it was the right decision after it became unbalanced toward the house.  I know it’s a “trash” tree but that thing provided shade to a quarter of our yard.

Hackberries get a bad rap.  While they can be scary once they are tall and leaning towards your house, they are great for wildlife, fast growing and tolerant of really mediocre growing conditions.  Since oak wilt came to our property I look at Hackberry seedlings differently.  Too many live oaks and not enough forest diversity leaves you really vulnerable to disease, ice storms, etc.  

 

[AntonioGG]

This is what it looked like right after the storm.  Everything on one side came down, and it broke a limb on the neighbor’s cedar elm.  Since I had taken this picture, 3 more large limbs fell of it.