Never trust a tree!

A bit of sage advice...Never, never trust a tree!  No matter how large or how old it is, a tree is just not something that should be trusted.  It can fall at any moment!  Or at 5AM!

This morning, it was quiet..too quiet.  This quietness was a bit unnerving to say the least.  I pondered if I should head to the pier or not.  The lack of any sound made me wonder if the coyotes were out and about the yard.  Hmmm..it was quiet but not just here.  I had not heard any trains or trucks in the past hour or so.  There was no wind.  It was dead calm.  None of the usual noises of a world awakening after a night's slumber could be heard.  It was quiet..too quiet.

Then an eerie sound permeated the air.  A sort of groan as if something was giving up hope.  It was a slow groan interspersed with crackling, splintering sounds.  I had never heard anything quite like this before.  Then CRASH!  Whoa!  What was that?  That was a very different sound than the previous ones.  That was a huge impact on metal!  Uh oh, that is never a good thing. Obviously, a large tree had fallen somewhere on the hillside. This was just before daylight so I had no way of knowing just what tree had fallen or how close it was to the Little Bayou House.  I eased on down to the pier and let falling trees just fall.

The large oak tree that fell snapping off the power pole.

Once again, the sun forgot to rise and the clouds ruled the day.  Still, the sky was bright enough for me to check out the crashing sound to see if there was any damage.  I found that the Little Bayou House was still intact and nothing in our yard was damaged.  No downed tree was found.   A bit later, I noticed that things looked a mite strange at my brother's place.  Ahh, HIS tree had fallen!  A rather large oak tree had simply uprooted and landed on a good bit of his equipment.  This was a huge, old oak tree that had been around for much longer than any of us.  It was a good four to five feet in diameter so when it fell, it created a great deal of havoc.  The electrical wires were pulled down and the poles snapped like twigs.  Being a mechanic, he had a lot of tools, parts and boats that have been either damaged or completely destroyed by the massive oak.  His place looks a lot like a hurricane swept through during the night.

The large oak that fell.  It nearly hides the shed!

This perfectly healthy tree falling just goes to show that anything can happen at any given moment.  Thankfully, no one was injured during this freak incident.  Things can be replaced, life cannot.  One can never be too careful.  Also...never trust a tree!