Monday, May 19, 2008

Crackle, Whoosh, Thud

I'm hip to the sound a tree makes when it falls. Because the trees in are neighborhood are, for lack of a better word, whimpy. So when I heard the unmistakable sound of crackle, whoosh, thud, my first thought was, "Oh please let it be my neighbors tree."
Very insensitive of me, but all the neighbors were saying that to themselves. The thought of spending, what was turning out to be a very lazy weekend, on the phone with insurance companies, tree removal and contractors didn't appeal to me in the least.
This post can remain somewhat humorous because no one was under the tree. And it wasn't my tree. When I looked out the front door there was a tree strategically place across the street and the neighbors were starting to gather.
"Anyone call 911 yet?"
There were some blank stares and heads shaking no.
"I'll do it." I'm a take charge kind of person and I've called 911 more times then I've cared too.
I told the 911 operator my street name and she said, "Fallen tree across street and no one hurt?"
"Yep."
"We're already on it."
I put my sweatshirt on and congregated with the neighbors, some of us hadn't seen each other since last fall, so it was nice to catch up.
A tree across the main road in a development needs to be removed immediately. You know in case anyone has a heart attack or falls into our lake, an ambulance needs to be able to drive through. The first to arrive was one policeman and a chainsaw. Boy #2 informed me later that he was using the chainsaw wrong and it could have kicked back at him. As the policeman cut pieces of the tree off, the neighbors all jumped in to clear the street. It's great to have good neighbors. And I stood their wondering if I had time to get my camera to take a picture for when I blog about this. I didn't want to spoil the moment of neighborhood camaraderie, so I stayed put, didn't want to miss any gossip either.

4 comments:

Ellen said...

My neighbors tree,or part of it, fell across my yard and almost on my house couple months ago. I know what you mean about the sound as I heard it and wondered....what the heck was that. Then it dawned on me and I ran to the front yard. Crap!!! Part of the neighbors tree had weakened so much from the recent winds and storms and it decided to fall that day. The next day the owner came and cut it down. But I was lucky that it didn't fall on my house.

Suzanne said...

We are so lucky the tree didn't fall on a car or a person, so many people drive by there and people jogging or walking their dogs, not to mention the kids! We were truly blessed. And all us us neighbors that were jabbering away determined the tree fell because it was a winding day and those damn carpenter ants!

Anonymous said...

Who'd thought mother nature could make a day so interesing.

Suzanne said...

Mother Nature with the help of some carpenter ants! LOL!