As you might have guessed from my 4,000+ blog posts, plus books and articles, I don’t usually have a problem with being stuck. But every now and then, I sit down to write a blog post, and even though I have drafts, a good list of potential post ideas, and photos waiting to be used, it just doesn’t happen. The drafts aren’t what I want to share that particular day, the post ideas take too long, and the photos aren’t inspiring. Sometimes, I can put the post off on those days because I’m working hard and getting it done, but on a rare few days, I realize I need to let it go and work on other things. That’s what I did on Wednesday. I worked on some other writing projects, finished an oil painting, cleaned out my email inbox, and took some photos for Thursday’s post to make it easier on myself the next time I sit down to write.
As I was finishing up my morning walk with Sebastian, we were walking by our side yard and I noticed a branch fall from our neighbor’s tree. It looked like it had hit our fence or maybe some bushes in our yard, so I went into the backyard to check it out.
Okay, so a large tree branch hit our fence and fell into our yard and pool! It was windy and rainy on Wednesday, but I went out around 9:30pm that night to pick Sebastian up again before bed and everything seemed fine, so it must have happened overnight. I knew my plans for the day would have to change, and while I had planned to post a blog post, that was unlikely to happen.
But there are a lot of things to be thankful for. First and foremost, no one was hurt. Second, the tree branch fell in a direction that caused minor damage to both properties. Third, we have really great neighbors and we knew it wouldn’t be a stressful situation where we were trying to figure out who was responsible for what. We knew we would work together to clean things up. Finally, it could have been a lot worse, and for a lot of people in the path of Hurricane Beryl, it was worse. When you put it in perspective, it’s just a small mess that’s hard to clean up.
My parents were coming over so my dad could do some water therapy for his knee in the pool and my mom could float, so I got to work cutting branches around the pool and cleaning up leaves and twigs in the water.
I got what I could with the pruner and shovel, cleaned the pool, and ran the pool vacuum a few times.
The rest will have to wait for reinforcements.
I was a little worried about my crushed bushes and was hoping we could get the extra weight off them sooner rather than later so they would have a better chance of getting back to normal.
We didn’t know exactly when our neighbor would be here to help (he’s a contractor and has the right tools and equipment for this type of work), but Jeff decided we could get started and tackle what we could with a small chainsaw. Jeff cut down the trees and the boys and I carried the branches to the curb and assembled smaller sections to haul in the wheelbarrow.
After swimming and exercise, my parents sat at the patio table and watched the show. They said it was surprisingly fun to clean up the beds. As the severed stems fell into the butterfly bush and Japanese holly, I cringed at each broken branch. I picked up one of the severed pieces and said to my mom, “That’s kind of heartbreaking.” I knew it was small compared to what many people deal with, but it was still okay to take a moment to acknowledge the damage done to an area we had worked so hard on this spring and summer. I had planned to rip out the butterfly bush, but once we had cleared away the dying spruce last summer and had more room to stretch out and get light, it looked healthier and I decided to keep it. I loved the deep purple flowers that sparkled behind the holly and had developed a fondness for it, but it was clear that the butterfly bush had taken the brunt of the fall. At the same time, I knew the butterfly bush was growing fast and would bounce back. Next spring, we might not even notice the damage. Holly bushes will be a bit slow to recover, but it’s still hard to tell the extent of the damage.
Two of the young hydrangeas I planted this spring got stuck under the branches. One was stuck in the ground by a branch that was over 12 inches deep. Our neighbor came with his equipment and a few extra hands to help, and we were able to get the rest of the work done quickly. He will also haul all the weeds away as he has the vehicles to do it.
Once the fallen branch was removed, we finished collecting the leaves and small branches, and I trimmed the broken branches from the butterfly bush, Japanese holly, and hydrangea. It was already looking much better.
I tied up the rest of my two downed hydrangeas and gave them some water. I’m optimistic they’ll recover, but they were two $12 little pieces from Home Depot, so it wouldn’t be too bad if I had to replace them.
The branch fell right in the middle of the butterfly bush, breaking most of the larger branches and bending one so that it almost touched the ground. Jeff put a strap around it in hopes that it would help the branch recover. I need to do some more pruning and replace some mulch, but I think it will be okay.
It seems a shame that we had just installed a brand new fence and a branch fell on it, but it was actually lucky. That branch would have destroyed the old fence. In fact, the new 2x4s took most of the weight and probably saved the mature holly bushes, which are much harder to replace than some fence picks. I even kept a few extra picks around just in case. We needed to reinforce things in a few places, but all was well.
Our neighbor’s fence, which was less than two years old, was also fine. Some sections were bent, but it was still a usable fence.
When I went out into the backyard this morning, there was only minor evidence of a fallen branch, and I was really happy with the cleanup and what was saved.
But I will tell you, I was exhausted. After walking three miles, cleaning the pool (removing branches from trees can be a tough upper arm workout), pulling branches, sweeping trees, and trimming trees, I had logged over 18,000 steps on my pedometer, and I was exhausted. I couldn’t write a blog post.
But sometimes plans change.
