One of the hardest things about maintaining a blog and posting something on a daily basis is not succumbing to the temptation to constantly talk about the weather. But sometimes the weather refuses to cooperate with my little self-imposed rule and behaves so outrageously that it can't be ignored.
As background, alert readers may recall that a couple days before Christmas last year, a tree fell down in the neighborhood and knocked out power for some eight hours or so and left me without cable or internet for three days. The sawed-up trunk of the tree is still waiting to be carried away, laying on the side of the road and even partially blocking one lane, and the neighbor whose tree it was apparently is fine with the overturned stump and root system sticking up in the air in his front yard. It's a daily reminder to all who live around here of what happened last December.
Then last week, a violent storm whipped through the South. I fully expected to lose power during the high winds and torrential rains, but to my surprise, although some trees did fall down around here, none were on my property and the ones that did fall didn't take power lines down with them. I managed to ride out that storm fully powered.
Last week's storms were due to a cold front blowing through and after the front had passed, temperatures fell below freezing for a few days. I didn't get any snow here at my house, but it did fall last weekend in parts of metro Atlanta and even more so up in the North Georgia Mountains. For a few days, this is what parts of Georgia looked like (not my pictures; the photos from the r/Atlanta subReddit):
Naturally, this being Georgia, it all melted away by the next day. Last night, Sunday evening, temperatures returned to the 40s and 50s typical for this time of year, and for once it wasn't raining. It was a cool, clear night.
So imagine my surprise when the power suddenly went off at 10:40 pm. I looked out the window and saw the yellow flashing caution lights of utility trucks down the road, so I went out to investigate.
It turns out that yet another tree had fallen, this one up against a power pole. It didn't take the lines down with it, but the servicemen had to turn off the power to remove the tree and repair the pole. I was in the dark - well, by candlelight (top pic) - for an hour before my power was restored.
This morning, I went out to investigate what had happened and saw the fallen trunk and limbs lying on both sides of the road.
Two takeaways here - first, the tree that fell was on the edge of a small ravine formed by a tributary to Tanyard Creek, and the tree fell, not downslope into the ravine, but in an upslope direction. Apparently, it wouldn't have caused enough damage if it had fallen down into the ravine (no power lines to disrupt down there).
Second, since those logs in the first picture are technically on City of Atlanta property (the ravine is undeveloped parkland), only the City has the authority to remove them, and like the other tree trunk already down on the road, they'll probably remain there for quite some while, reminding us of the damage and the tenuous status of our electrical supply.
But wait, there's more! While I was out this morning assessing last night's damage, I saw a crew in the neighborhood taking down yet another tree, this one leaning perilously toward a friend and neighbor's house. I hadn't noticed that particular tree leaning before, but am glad my neighbor is taking it down before it damages her house (and possibly her).
What's going on here? Trees are falling down around here on an almost monthly basis. This isn't normal. Zen Master Dogen talked about "the mind of trees and grasses," and whatever that mind might be like, what is going through it lately that the trees basically have decided to lay siege to the neighborhood?
Is this the inevitable result of development occurring around here about a century ago, and the trees just now reaching the end of their natural life cycles? Is this some result of urbanization, some combination of wildlife loss and air, noise, and light pollution taking its toll on the trees? Is climate change somehow exacerbating this process?
Up to now, I had been worried about falling trees every time we've had bad weather, and rain is forecast for eight of the next ten days. But lately, trees have been falling even when the weather isn't inclement, so I can now worry about trees all of the time. At least it's teaching me not to take electricity and the steady supply of power for granted anymore.
To close on a positive note, here's a picture from this morning of that tributary to Tanyard Creek that's now city parkland running through my neighborhood. This is quite literally across the street from my house. It's lovely, and a reminder of why I continue to live here despite the dangers and inconveniences of falling trees.
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