If you have ever heard that sound, you will never forget it

[fitzw]

A large portion of one of the oldest trees on the farm, "Old Faithful", just fell, missing two of the farm buildings by inches and yanking down the 3-phase line into the shop.

Updates as they become available...

ETA (9:05 PM EDT) -- Updates in comments section.

Comments

[ellid.livejournal.com]

Uh oh. I know that tree. What a shame!

[fitzw.livejournal.com]

That tree was large even when I was a child; we had eight buckets hanging from it this Spring. We called it "Old Faithful" because of its age, size, and reliability for sap.

My brother Raymond had commented earlier this Summer that it was probably going to need cabling this year because of the way that the trunk appeared to be spreading at the lowermost crotch of the tree (multiple trunk sections), but I think he expected a different section of the tree to give way first. One of his first questions when he came down to the farm was whether or not a strong wind had come up, but I didn't hear any wind before the sound of it falling.

Front initial <crack> to final <crash> of the section hitting the ground seemed to me to take less than a second, but I'm going to be replaying that sound for a while yet...

[rtropeano.livejournal.com]

Sorry to hear about this, but glad they missed the buildings.

[fitzw.livejournal.com]

It actually missed three buildings: The milkhouse, the workshop, and the outhouse (which I didn't count initially). The milkhouse and the outhouse are about the same size, somewhere around 80 sq. ft. of footprint.

What's more important is that my father had been up and down that section of the driveway several times today, while he was working on sharpening the saw rig on the back of one of the tractors (which was parked in front of the workshop when the tree section came down, and was also missed).

The timing and placement was almost perfect — it bent down several limbs on the young maple just uphill from it, some of which will have to be removed, and took down the phone line and, as I mentioned, the 3-phase power line to the workshop (which powers the heavier shop equipment). The 2-phase line comes in from a different direction to the workshop, and was untouched. It could have been a lot worse for incidental damage.

It's not a limb — it's actually a section of the trunk maybe 12 feet up, that separated away from the main trunk.

We'll have a better idea of the condition of the rest of the tree tomorrow, I expect.

[fitzw.livejournal.com]

Quick assessment of the damage to "Old Faithful" itself: I estimate that about 1/3 of the crown of the tree is gone.

[lady-jade-01.livejournal.com]

Would that be that huge, huge tree on the slope?

[fitzw.livejournal.com]

This was the huge, huge tree next to the roadside at the bottom of the driveway from the barn. I think that the tree that you're thinking of is the one in the clearing in the woods, and that one (as far as I know) is still mostly intact (it has a few dead branches that I need to remove). That tree only gets one "huge" compared to "Old Faithful".

[fitzw.livejournal.com]

I should also mention that the tree in the clearing has never been tapped for sap...

[ellid.livejournal.com]

I realize you probably have arborists in your area, but consider calling Cotton Tree service down in Northampton if you can't find anyone local. I just spent some time with the owner getting an estimate on cleaning up my place, and was pleasantly surprised by his suggestion that I completely scrap the idea of a lawn and simply mulch the yard to be more ecologically friendly. He's busy but he has a great reputation.

Good luck on saving at least part of the tree.

[fitzw.livejournal.com]

Don't worry, we have resources that we can call on. ;-) Thank you for the suggestion, though.

However, the primary assessment has to be made by the power company, because the tree is much taller than the power lines along the road. They will have to determine whether the tree is now a threat to the lines.

Much as we would like to save the tree, since we've had it so long, it is a very old tree. It may be its time.

[handymonkey]

This may sound silly, but I'm sorry for your loss. It sounds as if you and your family have grown close to this tree over the years and thankful for what it provided for you. Hopefully there is enough left of the core to save.

[fitzw.livejournal.com]

Not silly at all, and thank you.

[oakmouse]

Ow. Very sorry to hear it; that's a magnificent old tree.

[fitzw.livejournal.com]

I'm glad that you and John Michael had a chance to see it before this happened.

[oakmouse]

So am I!

If the power company decides it can stay, and the arborist says it's not fatally wounded, doing the awen for it may help it get through this.

[bunnyjadwiga.livejournal.com]

As someone else has said, I am sorry for your loss..