Storm Damage

You may recall my prior posting from September about a second storm that hit our Wisconsin property. This occurred just before we left for our vacation to Portugal and Italy, and so it is just now that we are back at the cabin to see the damage first hand. Although we intend to spend these three or so weeks enjoying ourselves up here, we will also be doing (and have already started) lots of cleanup and scheduling repairs.

We had been warned about the level of damage to the forest around us, but pictures and words really can't fully describe what we saw when we turned onto the road to drive back to our property. Our neighbors were hit hard. Previously surrounded by a nice woods, their house is now virtually clear all around. Many trees are gone on both sides of the road leading to our property, and at the lane entrance to our place, the woods are gone on all sides. The words "war zone" come to mind, but I'm sure that is an overstatement--I never want to see a real war zone, of course.

These two photographs were taken shortly after the storm passed. I posted them previously but thought you might want to see them again. If you have been here, you may recall the three very tall red pines just at the top edge of our parking area. Yesterday, I counted the rings in the stumps. They were approximately 125 years old. There was so much rain along with the wind, that two of them were completely uprooted and just blew over. The third, we are told, snapped off about 1/3 of the way up. The cabin porch was hit, probably mostly by branches, and the hot tub deck was directly hit. Two of the trees fell on either side of the propane tank, nudging it out of position and denting the lid over its controls, but it seems to have withstood the hit. Nevertheless, I'm arranging for it to be inspected.

While we were overseas, a logger took many of the trunk pieces away, including both near the cabin and back in the woods on either side of our lane. This is what things looked like when we drove in. Yesterday, we cleaned up much of this and are slowly burning it.

Looking back the other way, down the lane, you can see a couple of the red pine stumps, and you may be able to see how much the skyline has changed. Except for that one tall spruce in the center of the picture, there is little left in the low area to the right of the lane.

This is the same shot taken part way down the lane, from just in front of the two garages.

And, finally, here is what it looks like as you approach our lane (the turn to the right in this photo).

Our new welcome sign was clobbered by a falling tree, although I found it and may be able to repair it. Other damage includes: the cover of our hot tub (punctured and a broken latch), one of the flowering trees we planted last year, our mountain ash (leaning badly, though we may be able to pull it back into position), our fire number sign (has to be replaced), and one of the little bear heads I carved a few years ago (the one that everyone thought looked like a jack-a-lope; no great loss). All in all, we were very lucky. Nothing serious happened to the cabin itself or to either of the garages. Nothing at all happened on the lake side of the cabin, although the insurance adjustor found a little hail damage near the skylights on that side.

Things will grow back quickly, I expect, though nothing so majestic in our lifetime as the trees that were here when we bought the place. We may find some new species taking over. Our neighbor is already seeing evidence of more maples and oaks. That would be nice, and maybe we can introduce or nurture some more pines. Seedlings always seem to appear, and Will did plant 40 or more last May. Time will tell. It is still a beautiful place, and this will not interfere with our joy at being here when we can be. Natural forces sure are powerful and always find a way to put us in our place.