Tree

Nice thick fog to wake up to this morning.  Birds have been generally mia in the usual haunts: a few mallards, a couple of coots, that's about it.  The swallows have left for the season, at least the ones near Lake Washington.

The remainder of the Sequoia was cut down to the ground on Monday.  The resulting edge of bark becoming soft and fur-like on the cut; a crack running across the center.  Someone had mentioned to me earlier that the crack went down to the ground, but about 30 feet of snag remained after the initial work, everyone seemed to think it would be left as wildlife habitat.  Turns out it was too heavy for the equipment to do any more work (1200 lbs for the cut sections) so they had to bring in more sturdy machinery.  Someone else mentioned that the tree was planted by Edmund Meany (I knew that part) in 1902, that it was part of a seed exchange program of some sort.  I believe it was the final tree left that he had planted.  There are more Sequoias.

Pictures to follow.

Photos of things

Here are a few pictures: windstorm, and thunderstorm.

August windstorm/L Herlevi 2015

Cottonwood branches/L Herlevi 2015

After lightning strike/L Herlevi 2015

Splintered/L Herlevi 2015

Death and Life

A thunder storm sat over the region on Saturday afternoon, shook the house, sent drenching rain, and kept me from gardening.  When I was walking into work after the long weekend, I saw that it had struck a tree, tore it to bits, leaving a trunk standing about half-way, taking out the plants below in the process.  The chainsaws and mulcher running in the distance, turning it into food for other trees.

Destruction, like fire and wind and lightning, and life, all tied up.

Always liked this tree, RIP you big Sequoia.