Sunday, August 30, 2009

Walnut Creek in the Morning




It is been a relatively wet summer, with only one long dry spell for a few weeks....and as a result, the grasses have really grown up along the banks of Walnut Creek.

This is a great little creek that has lots of wildlife on it usually; although this morning, it was very still and I did not see hardly any critters other than a few songbirds.

Saturday, August 29, 2009

Spinning the Web





The fog was so thick this morning that the spider webs could not support all of the droplets.

This banana spider had to try to rebuild her web after part of it collapsed under the weight!

I love banana spiders....also called golden silk spiders, as you can see from the golden color that some of the web has (click on the photo to enlarge it).

They are huge, but harmless to people...and actually, they help out by keeping down the insect population.

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

The broken part of the tree is gone. I had to hire a crew to come in with a crane to lift it up and off, but it is gone. The only negative thing is that they didn't leave me an invoice for it. So I still don't know exactly how much it will cost. They gave me an estimate earlier though. I guess I will have to call them again.

Monday, August 24, 2009

A Few More Pics





And here is a bit of video....be patient, it takes a moment to load. When you see the image below, click on it to play the video.

Crash, Boom, Thud

At about 2:30 this morning (1/2 hour ago), I and the cat got a startle and sudden wake up call as a big limb broke out of one of the pecan trees and crashed down upon my roof. It is the tree that is right up next to the garage, and the limb broke part way; but is still hanging onto the trunk of the tree. It is laying across the roof of the patio shelter on the back and then across the roof over the back door to the house and out over the utility room and bathroom. I can't really see more till daylight and when I can get up on the roof after work, this afternoon. I am hoping that it is just laying across the house roof and didn't have any limbs that came through the roofing...but I will just have to wait and see. I guess that I know what I will be doing this afternoon.

Assuming that there aren't any roof penetrations, I think I can get up on the roof and cut the tree limb (about 12 inches diameter where it broke off from main tree, and 8 inches where it goes over the roof). At least that way if it snaps completely off from the tree trunk, it will just crush my patio shelter and not do much more damage to the house roof. I went ahead and moved my bbq grill and chairs out from under the patio, just in case it decides to come on down before I can get up there afterwork today. No need in them getting squashed.

As to saving the patio roof, I am not sure if that is going to be possible or not. Thus far, it is in pretty good shape; but I have my doubts on being able to bring down the remaining limb in a controlled manner.

I will snap a few photos this afternoon and post them....but back to bed for now.

UPDATE: Here are the photos as I left this morning for work: