The Tree

We've got this great big old Black Cottonwood in our backyard. A few years ago, before our youngest daughter's wedding, we built a deck around the tree and have enjoyed it's ambiance during weddings, reunions, and just kicking back.


The tree's wood is not as springy as an evergreen; in fact, it's quite brittle when it's covered with an inch of ice. Limbs tend to fall in the wintertime, especially if you add a little wind to the ice.


Well, today, I decided to rescue the "light balls" that hang from the lower branches and illuminate our deck.


Naturally, this was after Hummingbird Rescue, which was after last night's freezing rain. As I was under the tree, a horrific crack shot thru the air above me. Knowing exactly what it was, I raced across the deck and dove out into the snow, covering my head (sorry, no video...). Becky ran outside as I was getting up. We both looked at the deck (well, this 1200sq ft thing covered with snow and ice), then looked at our house.




The main limb at the top of the tree had broken under the weight of the ice and had fallen towards the house. The tip plunged into the snowy ground, and, like a pole vault, the base of the limb was propelled into Becky's tool shed (she's always wanted a bigger and better one). One small limb ripped into the greenhouses. Seein's how this was Sunday and we hadn't adventured out to church, I was wondering what I was to do with all my time today. So, I got out the chainsaw and kept my eyes on the tree as I cleared out some of the larger limbs.

Near Tragedy

Becky's got a ton of blogging to do to get us caught up. In the meantime, we've had an unusual snow storm around here. She'll have tons of photos of that, I'm sure. One of the things she loves to do is see the local birdlife. To lure them in, she's got feeders. We see all kinds of cool little birds in our back yard. She has a couple hummingbird feeders, one of which she's tried to keep unfrozen throughout the day so the four little birds that frequent it can get some sustenance. Well, last night, with the ground and all the trees at 17 degrees, it started to rain. When the raindrops hit anything that cold, they freeze. Hence, freezing rain. When one of the little hummingbirds showed up, he landed on the limb next to the feeder and immediately froze to it. I saw him dangling from the limb this morning when I looked out. He appears to have broken at least one leg. I cut the limb, bringing him inside where the ice thawed and he came undone. He didn't argue at all, being held in my warm hand. He's in the garage now. We'll see if he makes it. I'd just taken this photo of him yesterday.

Becky woke up to the challenge of Hummingbird Recovery and answered it's call. The little guy was keeping warm in one of our little portable dog kennels. She moved him to a shoebox in the house and proceeded to feed him! Looks like he'll be ok. We'll keep him inside tonight and let him go tomorrow after breakfast. Whew!








The TV is blaring in the background and the local news people are discussing our "Arctic Blast" that's made a real mess of Portland. I guess our little hummingbird got the worst of it. In the video, there's a center segment where she rolls him over and checks his little legs. One leg doesn't seem to be working like the other. I was amazed he didn't jump up and fly away when she openly lays him in the palm of her hand to feed. One encouraging thing is that he's been sitting on a small limb that Becky placed inside the box. After a night in the garage and a quick breakfast, he was anxious to get back outside and enjoy the winter blast of ice and cold.