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+--- Thread: Oh, *fun* (/showthread.php?tid=10290)
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Oh, *fun* - Bob Schroeck - 03-14-2010
(Okay, let's try this a second time. For some reason, the first posting went in without any text.)
Well, for those of you who aren't in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, we're right now being battered by a nasty rainstorm -- lots of rain, lots of wind. It's been going on for about 24 hours, and is project to keep going for another 48 or so.
And it just knocked down a fir tree in our yard that was located about five feet from our house.
We're okay, the house is okay. The tree was positioned such and the wind blowing such, that it fell down along the side of the house, the trunk coming no closer than about 18 inches at any point. But it came down in two stages, when its branches got snagged on the roof. It's all the way down now, and we have a tree top in the patio, but it seems to be stable and not prone to movement, even when pushed by the monster gusts of wind we're getting. We'll probably hear branches moving still for a while, but we don't seem to be in any danger of losing any windows or anything at this point. I think.
I now return you to your regularly scheduled Saturday night.
ETA: Oh, and we had a little blackout between the first partial fall of the tree, when it initially caught on the roof, and the final fall to the ground. Obviously the power's back, but I really wish the lights would stop flickering.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.
- Bob Schroeck - 03-15-2010
Okay... about half an hour after I posted my initial message in this thread, we lost power until 3 PM today. We were out most of the day, home but just about to go out when it came back, and are back briefly to clean up in order to go to a "thank you" dinner for helping Peg's mom clean up her downed branches.
The tree is unsalvageable; the roots are out of the ground and the trunk shattered a foot or two above them. I took photos; when I get back from dinner I will put them up on Flickr and put a link here.
The tree right next to it, as it turns out, started coming out of the ground a little. It's noticeably off-true and mounded around one side of its roots. It might be worth having an arborist look at it.
Tree destruction is rampant in our area; in our short ride out this afternoon, we saw at least half a dozen downed trees in our neighborhood, including several that hit nearby houses.
Gotta go, be back later.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.
- RMH999 - 03-15-2010
You should get the one that's mounded up checked out soon - we had one when a tornado came by that mounded up and leaned off true as well. It stayed that way for about a week before finally falling over.
RMH
If we knew what it was we were doing, it would not be called research, would it?
- Albert Einstein
- Bob Schroeck - 03-15-2010
I'll try to find a good arborist tomorrow to check it out.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.
- Bob Schroeck - 03-15-2010
Okay, for anyone who wants to see, I've set up a Flickr photostream http://www.flickr.com/photos/bgcloon/se ... 621487172/]here.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.
- Jeanne Hedge - 03-15-2010
Bob Schroeck Wrote:ETA: Oh, and we had a little blackout between the first partial fall of the tree, when it initially caught on the roof, and the final fall to the ground. Obviously the power's back, but I really wish the lights would stop flickering.Bob, in addition to an arborist, you need to get someone out to check the power lines at your house. There's only one reason I can think of to have a mini-blackout at the same time a tree is caught on the roof and coming down, and then to have lights flickering after the tree is completely down, and that's loose wires. Were any snagged (or even just nearby) when the tree was making its way down in stages? (this is specific to your house and unrelated to the area blackout you mentioned in a later message)
![[Image: 6bf36ddc1d2c96930d75576c361a9b3f8152885f.gif]](http://www.accessdenied-rms.net/forums/forumimportfiles/6bf36ddc1d2c96930d75576c361a9b3f8152885f.gif)
Jeanne Hedge www.jhedge.com
"Believe me, if I have to go the rest of my life without companionship, knowing myself won't be a problem."
-- Gabrielle of Potadeia
- Black Aeronaut - 03-15-2010
... Yeah, you can definitely put a fork in that tree... it's done.
- Bob Schroeck - 03-15-2010
Jeanne, the flickering was neighborhood-wide, I confirmed by watching the lights in nearby houses. It appears to have been symptomatic of whatever caused the later full blackout.
Plus, our power comes in on the other side of the house. No lines of any sort are near that tree, not even underground (we had them all marked out a couple years back for a little project we did).
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.
- Sweno - 03-15-2010
yeesh, that could have been a lot worse. Glad to hear that you are ok.
-Terry
-----
"so listen up boy, or pornography starring your mother will be the second worst thing to happen to you today"
TF2: Spy
- Herr Bad Moon - 03-15-2010
Glad to hear you guys missed being hit. Living in Western Washington, people think its earthquakes that scare us the most but every year wind storms blow through and I sit terrified in the dark waiting for the boom to fall. Everyone in the neighborhood has had a tree hit or nearly hit their house.
---
Jon
"And that must have caused my dad's brain to break in half, replaced by a purely mechanical engine of revenge!"
- Epsilon - 03-15-2010
Reminds me of being out my parents place in Halifax when Hurricane Jaun came into town. We watched a tree with a good meter diameter trunk just slowly rip out of the ground and tumble into the woods. Too bad, it was a spectacular tree and without it the front yard just looks remarkably empty. Lots of other trees came down that night, thankfully none on the house. One knocked out the power lines. We actually had some wonderful volunteers from the states come up and help us clear out most of the problems.
The problem was they left one tree that was severely canted by the storm and was going to come down eventually. So me and my father had to take it out. Woo, boy, that was an experience. My father only had a rusty old chainsaw with blunt teeth and he was basically whacking at it, trying to cut out a divot and make it fall into the yard. He had me with a massive rope wrapped around the thing, trying to help pull it so that it toppled away from the house. Of course, our battle with the forces of gravity was doomed to failure. The tree went in towards the house and knocked off the power lines again. It was only as the tree toppled away from me that I realised how incredibly stupid our plan was. I was trying to pull the tree down toward me which strikes me as just about the most insane thing I have ever done in my life in retrospect.
Glad to hear you weathered the storm safely, though.
----------------
Epsilon
- Rod.H - 03-15-2010
*looks at pics*
That was a tree I'd have serious concerns about if it was next to my place. Mainly due to how close to the house it was. The root ball size doesn't help matters, looks way to small for a tree that size.
Epsilon, couldn't you've tied the rope to a 4wd to help pull down that tree?
--Rod.H (who distrusts v.large trees)
- Black Aeronaut - 03-15-2010
Herr Bad Moon Wrote:Glad to hear you guys missed being hit. Living in Western Washington, people think its earthquakes that scare us the most but every year wind storms blow through and I sit terrified in the dark waiting for the boom to fall. Everyone in the neighborhood has had a tree hit or nearly hit their house.Oh, no kidding! I remember the blow we had when Clinton was inaugurated for his first term. And our place in Lacey was surounded by 150+ foot pine trees! The storm was so bad that it even took out the high voltage transmission lines that ran out by Yelm. Pretty much everything from Chehailus to Tacoma was blacked out.
When the lights went out my Mom and I were gathering some last minute supplies at the local Food Pavilion. We both found it kinda amusing when during that moment right after everything went black inside the supermarket, we heard one guy distinctly say, "Awww shit!"
- Bob Schroeck - 03-15-2010
Latest update: The arborist we contacted didn't even need to come out; when he heard the species of tree, the size, and the angle it was leaning at, he said "take it down and replace it, you can't save it."
So it's going to be much, much hotter mowing the back yard this summer. That was my favorite shady corner of the yard; I always saved it for last to cool down during the final quarter of the mowing.
At least now we can also replace the fruit tree we took down two years ago because of the cedar blight (or whatever the hell it was called) that was killing it.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.
- Bob Schroeck - 03-15-2010
Our tree service guy just came out -- $800 to take them both down and grind out the stumps. Ouch. But necessary.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.
- Wiregeek - 03-15-2010
Stump Grinders are _awesome_.
If you at all doubt the wisdom of using a tree removal service, a brisk youtube search for 'tree removal fail' will enlighten you
"No can brain today. Want cheezeburger."
From NGE: Nobody Dies, by Gregg Landsman
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5579457/1/NGE_Nobody_Dies
- Bob Schroeck - 03-15-2010
Oh, they are indeed, unless it's 9 AM on a Saturday and you're trying to sleep in when the grinder growls its way into your back yard.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.
- Epsilon - 03-15-2010
Rod H Wrote:.We didn't have a 4wd and, given how severly the tree was canted, I highly doubt it would have made any difference. The tree was a good five stories tall and was at something like a 30-35 degree angle. Maybe if we had a backhoe or something similarly powerful to fight the law of gravity, but as was? No good.
Epsilon, couldn't you've tied the rope to a 4wd to help pull down that tree?
.
-----------------
Epsilon
- Bob Schroeck - 03-17-2010
The tree service we use is coming in about an hour to chop up the fallen tree and take down the leaning one. I've just spent some time out in the yard enjoying the last shade I'll see in that corner for maybe years.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.
- Bob Schroeck - 03-17-2010
Trees are gone. I took video of the cedar coming down, and as soon as I can figure out how to convert it from my camera's native video format to something everyone actually uses, I'll post it somewhere. Just to counter the video above.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.
- Wiregeek - 03-17-2010
brand and model of camera?
"No can brain today. Want cheezeburger."
From NGE: Nobody Dies, by Gregg Landsman
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5579457/1/NGE_Nobody_Dies
- Bob Schroeck - 03-17-2010
Panasonic DMC-FZ50.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.
- Wiregeek - 03-18-2010
Quote:File formats * • RAW
• JPEG (EXIF 2.2): Fine / Standard
• MOV (Movies, Motion JPEG codec)
Mjpeg...
Youtube doesn't specify it as a supported format, but it would certainly be worth a shot to upload it. Mjpeg is about as standard as a standard can get, so it should work. Size might be an issue, but cest la vie, Youtube will re-code it anyway.
If you wanted to recode yourself, get a copy of Handbrake, and use an h.264 output type.
But I'd just try it.
"No can brain today. Want cheezeburger."
From NGE: Nobody Dies, by Gregg Landsman
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5579457/1/NGE_Nobody_Dies
- Bob Schroeck - 03-18-2010
A little later tonight, maybe.
One complication -- without thinking about it, I held the camera in portrait orientation while filming. Dunno if I can rotate it or something for playback.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.
- Wiregeek - 03-18-2010
d'oh!
you can in Handbrake, I believe.
http://handbrake.fr
"No can brain today. Want cheezeburger."
From NGE: Nobody Dies, by Gregg Landsman
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5579457/1/NGE_Nobody_Dies