storm Damage

Ha roo, pups and kit-cats! It's me - Zim! Over the weekend, we got pounded by another big storm. This one had really high winds and did a lot of damage to some of the trees here at Ao4 HQs. Mom and Dad spent most of Tuesday with saws and pruning tools taking out the damaged limbs. I thought I'd show you what all they did.

These first four shots are off Mom's iPhone. This is ...uh... was the Smoke Tree:

We lost the whole thing. Well, maybe not the whole thing; Mom and Dad left some of the young sproutlings that come up and we'll see what they do.

Here's a look at what they piled onto that tier from the other direction.

We lost part of the King's Choice Elm, too. Dad said that's a VERY hard wood. Did I mention they didn't use any power tools in the take-down? And that the heat index was 112 degrees Fahrenheit according to AccuWeather? (That's 44.44 degrees Celsius, for our international readers!) You wouldn't believe how exhausting it was for us, watching out the windows from within the air-conditioned confines of the house. Whew, those two bipeds just exhausted us!

Here's some more of the Elm, piled on the upper tier.

They also had to take some limbs off the Purple Ash. Here's a look at those:

The rest of the fun that day was lugging all of that up the hill to the driveway, where Dad could process it. (You can see the hill behind Ammy in the pix at this link.)

After they brought them up, we had to go check it all out.

Wowzers! Check it out, Ammy!

I tried telling her it was Storm damage, but she's too quick to fall for that.

Hee hee hee! Oh, Zimmie! It's storm damage, not Storm damage! Hee hee hee!

Dave and Storms took a look, too.

Woo, Storm! Did you really do all this?

Dave, Dave, Dave. Didn't the redheads already go over this?

Dave's slightly more gullible than Amber. Ha roo!

That was quite the full day's work. Dad's plan was to tackle it early the next day, cutting it into smaller, more manageable pieces. He started cutting away, so he could put it in the back of the RAV4 and haul it all to our county transfer station. They have a great program where they take people's tree limbs and chop it up into mulch for other people to use in their gardens! (Unlike Mom and Dad, I think they actually use power tools for their part of the job...!)

Storm said someone should really keep an eye on Dad. Unfortunately, we couldn't see him very well from the front windows - the angle isn't right - so I had to outsource. I have lots of pals in the neighborhood, and I knew I could count on one of them for help.

Who should I call on for this one? Hmm...

I thought on it for a while, then sent a mind meld out to a friend of mine. I needed to choose someone who can stand the heat much better than we can... who doesn't have a double coat on... someone who would blend in, not be obtrusive, and help keep Dad company. Someone who would be happy to jump on this. (No, not Oswald - he's busy eating all the foliage in the neighborhood, according to Mom.) The choice was clear to me. I called on my friend Taras. Taras Toada. He's a wild, brave guy just like that Cossack he was named for. Here he is:

Can you see him in there? Here's a better look:

Taras Toada

I knew if anyone could hop right on this, it was Taras!

Dad got it all dealt with, so Taras must have done a great job. Dad even moved Taras down to a safer part of the yard when he was done; I'm sure that means Dad appreciated his help! Thanks, Taras! And great job, Dad! Another job at Ao4 HQs well done!

Play bows,

Zim