Hurricane Isabel

The tree on the ground is a massive oak from the part of our property that abuts Patuxent River Road. It had a very large limb that hung directly over the road and always looked a little strange. Not precarious because it's a HUGE tree and was a mighty oak after all. Well, Isabel fixed that! While we were away in Italy, our neighbors slaved over the tree (probably about 60+ feet tall and 3 feet in diameter at the base of the trunk - I measured later!). Oh, the guilt!!

The caption reads
During the early part of the tropical storm a large tree fell across Patuxent River Road just north of the intersection with Arrowhead Farms Road, blocking access to Arrowhead Farms Estates and Patuxent Preserves. Several neighbors began working on the tree with chainsaws and a small tractor, quickly clearing the road. This was especially important to the Oaks family as they had a bridal shower for a niece planned for the next day. Linda Oaks said, "It was a very impressive sight seeing all these men pitching in and working together. They eliminated a major aggravation for the entire community."

When we came back from our trip and saw the tree down, we thought "Uh-oh, did our neighbors come and knock on our door to get us to help?" We considered putting up a sign at the tree stump apologizing for not being home to assist with the dismembering. By the following Sunday, we knew we finally had time to cut up the branches and begin hauling them away, but (happily) we were beaten by the county workers who arrived 15 minutes before 10am, which was the time we had intended to start with our chain saw. Three men took 4+ hours to grind up most of the tree. I'm so glad that the county does that! We also learned that if you put some dead wood/limbs out at the streetside after a big storm, they will grind that up, too. Too bad we didn't realize that until it was too late for some of our other trees. We'll have to rent a wood chipper now.

We did sneak a few smaller limbs while the workers were lunching elsewhere, so we have some nice oak firewood curing for winter 2004/2005.