We had a big rain and wind storm last night that took out our power and roared through the forest. At one point I heard a loud thunk of a tree landing. On investigating today I found a large 95 foot hemlock had fallen quite close to the house.

This hemlock was uprooted by the wind. I will be using it for lumber and firewood.

The tall 40 foot tree in the center of the photo is the top of a cedar tree that broke off and fell straight down. It took me a while to realize we had a new tree beside the path.

This is where the tree broke off. It had been damaged many years ago and had formed two tops or leaders. You can see one still attached. We have quite a few trees like this all about the same age. This indicates that at some time a pretty fierce storm passed through and did some significant damage.

This is why I don’t walk in the woods during a windstorm. This old maple branch has fallen and embedded itself 18 inches into the ground. It would have hurt!