Feeling Powerless

By now, everyone in the US (and maybe some of you in other countries) has certainly heard about the widespread damage and power outages caused by the storm that swept through the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic last Friday night.  The news said that we were hit with 90 mile-per-hour straight-line winds.  Our electricity has been out since then ... and we are not yet on the power company's schedule to repair the power line up the road, which has a tree laying across it.  The company says that we only have 151 houses on the line, and we have been skipped in favor of repairs that will affect a larger number of customers.  I guess I understand their priorities, but it still sucks for those of us who are now in the FOURTH day without power.

Without this little piece of equipment, I'm not sure what we'd do.

Our generator has enough capacity to run our well pump (so we have water) and it has four electrical outlets to power a limited number of essential electrical things in the house.  We are using it for our basement refrigerator and freezer (where the contents of the kitchen fridge are now), a lamp in the family room, multiple fans, a radio, and the TV and DVD player.  We are living life in a maze of extension cords, paying particularly close attention to how much power we are using so we don't overload the generator.  We have no air conditioning ... with temperatures hovering in the high 90s each day, we are uncomfortable but we are managing.

Our power came back on at about 3:00 this afternoon.  (I wrote the above part of this post earlier this morning.)  I saw the crew working on the line under the downed tree up the street, and I stopped to thank them.  Four days with electricity were definitely a challenge.  The a/c is doing a fine job of cooling the house down, and it's WONDERFUL to go into a room and be able to flip on a light!

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The storm was responsible for a particularly heart-breaking loss for us.  Our largest oak tree in the front yard, the big beautiful tree closest to the house in the line of three trees beside our driveway, is gone.

The fallen trunk of this tree is almost as tall as I am.

My hands are shaking as I write this, because I still can't quite believe it.  This feels like a death in the family.  As the tree went down, it took with it a majority of the limbs that were left on the damaged middle tree ... so that one is going to have to be removed, too. 

The landscape in front of our house now looks incredibly empty.  I am so used to seeing the huge crown of this tree filling the sky ... the bare patch of sky in its place looks so out of place. 

I have shown you this tree many times in the past ... it was a supermodel in the world of trees.     

What it looked like this spring before it leafed out.

Now it's a heart-breaking heap.

My favorite photo of the three trees in a snow storm.

 

The same angle today.  The picnic table is smashed under the tree limbs.

This huge tree is going to require a tree crew to remove ... and the reputable tree crews are out clearing powerlines and removing trees from people's roofs, so our heap of tree will have to wait for a while.

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Daniel hasn't been feeling well.  For the past two months, we have been running him back and forth to the veterinarian for tests ... which have resulted in a confusing list of symptoms, none of which point to a diagnosis.  He has been x-rayed, ultrasounded twice, had needle biopsies and blood tests.  Through it all, he continues to lose energy.  Fortunately, his appetite and attitude are good.

This morning, we were at the specialty vet to see an Internist for a needle biopsy of his spleen.  (While I was waiting, I used their wi-fi to catch up on work and email.)

 

Preliminary results from this latest test may have our answer. The vet thinks that Daniel may have lymphoma in his GI tract. His review of the samples were promising enough to forward them to a pathologist for further review. He told me to expect to have results on Thursday ... I will probably be holding my breath till then.

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I'm not at my best unless I feel like I have some control of my life.  With all of this going on, the lack of control has been a recipe for serious stress.  I'm doing the best I can to find a way to deal with each of these situations. 

We have power again, so there's no more living in the dark. 

The tree is gone ... I can't put it back ... I have to make peace with this.  It will take some time.

  Daniel is comfortable ... he continues to enjoy his food ... and I have every confidence that we will figure out what is wrong with him.

... like I said ... feeling powerless ... but working on getting the upper hand again.

What a Beautiful Day ... and an Announcement

Yesterday, the sky was blue, the clouds were puffy, and temperatures were warm (but not too warm) ... a perfect day for working outside.

A huge oak tree on one side of our front yard ...

... and a large wild cherry tree on the other side.

Our cooler-than-average temperatures for the past week or so have preserved the blooming daffodils, so their spring show seems to be going on a bit longer than usual. 

These are an old fashioned variety that is called Butter and Eggs.  All of these were rescued from old house sites that no longer exist.

The daffodil bulbs that I planted by our front fence three years ago are growing really well.  It's easy to tell which part of the fence has the sunniest, best growing conditions.

I worked in the greenhouse for a few hours while the morning was cool, continuing to pot the roses into their larger pots.  It feels really good to slide a rose out of its little pot and see roots like this.

And now for the announcement ... Mark your calendar and plan to attend Hartwood Roses' Spring Open House.  I'm planning to open the garden on Saturday, May 14 (rain date, Sunday, May 15).  I have lots of details to attend to before then, so take this as a preliminary announcement.  I will announce a complete schedule of activities here soon, and email it to everyone on my mailing list, so stay tuned.

Spring is finally here, and I can't wait to share it with you!

The Consequences of Making Mulch Mountains

We've all seen them ... the neat, cone-shaped piles of mulch around ornamental trees.  I have heard them called Mulch Mountains, or Mulch Volcanoes.  Whatever you call them, they are HORRIBLE for the health of the trees they surround.

The trees in the photos in this post are in a parking lot island in a large commercial development.  Because of their size, I imagine they are original to the development, which was opened in the mid-1990s.  All this time, the landscape maintenance crews have been refreshing the Mulch Mountains, piling them higher and higher as they spruce up the development each year ... and what you see below is the inevitable result.

When I saw this the other day, I knew that it was a perfect example to use to spread the word and try to educate folks about what can happen.  (I could talk about this all day, but a graphic photo or two gets the point across a lot better.) 

Piling mulch against the tree's trunk like this traps moisture and creates a perfect atmosphere for girdling roots to sprout around the tree trunk.   

Most folks don't realize that mulch piled high against their trees can cause damage like this.  They think that professional landscape crews must be experts, so why not do what they do.  Don't fall for it!

If you choose to mulch the base of your trees or shrubs, try to keep the mulch from piling up against the trunk. In the long run, your trees will thank you.

Here's a video to show you how it's SUPPOSED to be done.

The Maple Tree

There has been a maple tree growing right beside the foundation of our barn for as long as anyone can remember.  I don't know why it was allowed to grow there, but it created a lovely addition to the scene on that side of the barn. 

About a year or so after we bought this place, a large limb fell.  It landed parallel to the barn, and did no damage, thank goodness.  The rest of the tree looked solid.

When we were trying to find someone to restore our barn, almost all the contractors who saw the tree insisted that it had to come down.  The contractor we eventually hired told me that we could leave it.  The trunk of the tree had lifted the foundation in that one spot, but he would scribe the new posts to fit around it.  (see it there in the lower left corner of the photo below?)  He even hung a swing on one of the branches for my grandson.

You can see how the power company would come trim it every few years.  Those power lines are for our neighbor's house behind us.

One evening after the barn was finished, a storm dropped another limb ... this time onto the barn roof.  Fortunately, there was no damage and the neighbors helped us clear the debris.  (no pictures of this one, sorry)

This summer, we noticed that the whole tree appeared to be leaning a little bit farther away from the barn than it used to.  It still seemed stable, so we put off calling the tree company ... it's really expensive to have the tree guys work near power lines, and I didn't want to spend the money until we absolutely had to.

When I looked at this photo that I took last month, I realized that I was holding on to the idea of what this tree had once been ... storms and decay had left it with none of the beauty it had before. It was silly of me to risk the barn or neighbor's electricity like this ... so I called the tree company for an estimate.

Last week, who do you think showed up at our door?  The power company was making their rounds, trimming the trees.  After a short conversation with the supervisor, they agreed to take the tree down for us ... no charge.

We still have to cut down most of the big trunk, but we can do that now without the risk of electrocution.

I'm still sorry to see it go.

(written by Hartwood Roses.  Hartwood Roses blog)