THANKS FOR YOUR CONCERN BUT IT WASN’T CLOSE ENOUGH TO HIT THE HOUSE.
HERE’S SOMETHING THAT MADE ME MARVEL. HAD A WHITE BIRCH OFF THE BACK PORCH THAT HAD THREE TRUNKS GROWING FROM THE SAME SPOT. MY WIFE ENJOYS HUMMING BIRD FEEDERS SO I PUT ONE ON THE TRUNK NEAREST THE PORCH, SO WE COULD WATCH THEM FEED. ONE YEAR AFTER THE LEAVES HAD FALLEN AND THE HUMMING BIRDS HAD GONE OFF TO WHEREVER THEY GO OFF TO, THAT TRUNK FELL AND HIT THE HOUSE. NOT MUCH DAMAGE, AND THE INSURANCE WAS PAID UP SO IT WAS NO BIG DEAL, BUT I DECIDED THAT THE OTHER TWO TRUNKS HAD TO COME DOWN ALSO.
NOW, FOR SOME REASON THAT NO SANE PERSON CAN EVER UNDERSTAND (MAYBE IT WAS WATCHING “SHANE” AS A KID) I DECIDED TO TAKE THEM DOWN WITH AN AXE INSTEAD OF A CHAIN SAW. TOOK ME PARTS OF TWO DAYS, AND COST ME RAW HANDS DESPITE THE GLOVES...BUT IT PLEASED ME, AND TAUGHT ME TO NOT THINK OF DOING ANYTHING LIKE THAT AGAIN.
THE NEXT SPRING THE HUMMINGBIRDS CAME BACK, WENT TO THE EXACT SPOT THE FEEDER HAD BEEN, HOVERED THERE FOR MINUTES AT A TIME, AND DIDN’T SEEM TO COMPREHEND THAT THE FEEDER WAS NO LONGER THERE. THEY DID THIS WELL INTO THE SUMMER BEFORE THEY GAVE IT UP. SHOWED THAT THEY WERE THE SAME BIRDS FROM AT LEAST THE YEAR BEFORE, AND HAD SOME SORT OF INTERNAL GEO-LOCATION MECHANISM BUILT INTO THEM. I WAS ASTONISHED! I CAN’T UNDERSTAND HOW A PERSON CAN SEE THE MARVELS OF NATURE AND BE AN ATHEIST. MAYBE THEY’RE ALL URBANITES.
I HOPE YOU AND LUVIE GET SOME RAIN. SOON!
Whew! You’d mentioned no structural damage and I thought it had been close to the house but just missed it. That’s a lot of tree to come down.
I hope you have a good chainsaw for any future tree cutting you need to do. OUCH at the thought of cutting the birch with an axe.
Hummers do seem to have some sort of geo-location mechanism because we’ve had them show up here year after year. I wouldn’t put the feeder out until I saw them show up to the spot outside the kitchen window where I hung the feeder.
When we moved from the old farmhouse over to the house we’re in now, it took them a few weeks to find the feeders I hung over here. They came back last year but we haven’t seen the first one this year. :-(
The wonders of nature. People who don’t appreciate it are missing out on so much. One of the most magical things to watch are fireflies waking up for a night of flitting around. I love to step outside just as the sun sets and stand well out into the yard. The grass all around comes to life with tiny flickering lights as the fireflies slowly rise. What a beautiful sight.