A stiff wind

One big difference about living in Ohio is the wind. I never in my life experienced the kind of winds we get here in the spring and fall. There are many nights I simply don't sleep, convinced that the house is going to blow away. I keep the TV on and watch the little weather warning map to see when we will be freed from the high wind warnings -- or tornado warnings sometimes.

Ike was the monster of all high wind storms. Like a typical non buckeye, I wanted to hide inside and keep the path to my tornado shelter clear while neighbors were outside walking around dodging falling limbs. There was something about the warmth and humidity that day that softened the feel of the winds tricking folks into thinking that it wasn't as bad as it really was. The tree roots facing skyward in my backyard were enough proof to me that man should not be out in that one.

These thoughts all came back to me a couple of weeks ago as we battened down the hatches for another wind storm. This one brought with it a cold air mass after a few days of unseasonably warm muddy weather. Again, the winds were very strong, but because the trees were nearly all leafless, they survived the storm. Except for the evergreens that toppled and snapped.

As I weathered this storm, I resolved to update you on the state of the root balls in our backyard. You may remember that two poplar trees in our yard were felled by the storm.

This was the view of our yard the day after Ike passed through.

After a few days, DH bought a chainsaw and started cutting the wood from the tree in the previous picture. It is actually the only one of the trees on our property. The other tree was a couple inches into the greenbelt behind our land. So this tree was our first priority. Additionally, it landed on our neighbor's shed, so we felt we needed to clean it up.

Miraculously, when DH got to about 8 feet from the roots, the tree slowly tipped back up. It now stands in our back yard with a bird house on top. Maybe some day we will cut it down further, but for now, the 8 foot tall stump is a big improvement over the roots reaching to the sky.

So, DH cut the tree in the greenbelt back hoping that it too would pop back up. But alas, it stayed tipped over and we began to think we would have to string some colored lights on it next winter. It had become a fixture of our backyard landscape. It was fun to show it to people who visited from out of town. They could see some of the might of Ike.

But on Christmas morning when we all came downstairs, DH noticed that the other tree had popped back up. After a couple days of rain the ground was very soft and the wood from the roots must have softened up enough to become flexible again, because now the tree was righted.

It looks much better but the boys are disappointed that they don't get to climb around on it anymore.