after the storm

R has his hands full, cleaning up the storm damage.

It was plenty beautiful. Our house is completely hidden at the end of that little trail through 18″ of snow that lingered for a week.

Even when the sun came out, the snow stayed…it was so cold.

The ancient cherry tree in front had two huge limbs shatter.

They were kind enough to descend slowly to rest gently on the roof of the deck.

Limbs came down from many of the large evergreens that circle the property.

The little birch grove along the drive is sadly depleted.

The devastation to the ‘Thunderhead’ pine was, to me, the greatest blow. I’m pretty sure it will recover but it had reached a configuration that I had been working on for 10 or more years. Other things that got some extreme pruning from Mom Nature were Ozothamnus several Ceanothus and a mature Cornus kousa. The sun is shining today, Joy Creek will open soon and spring gets closer every day. Time, indeed to keep clam and carry on.

18 thoughts on “after the storm

  1. Ooh, sorry about the loss of so many branches and your poor pine! I’ve learned the hard way to go out with a broom when the snow is heavy like that to knock the snow and lighten the load. Wet snow is the worst (no, maybe ice is the worst)!

  2. Ouch! Often as I bemoan SoCal’s drought and pretty as I think snow looks, the difficulties of dealing with weather extremes in your region are daunting to say the least. Best wishes with the clean-up.

  3. Oh my, you had quite a bit of snow and damage. I think you’ve had more snow this year than us! We’ve had a very mild January until now, and the forecast shows “normal” weather for the next couple of weeks–20s and 30s. Beautiful images of the snowfall!

  4. Oh, I’m sorry about ‘Thunderhead’. That would hit me pretty hard, too. I hope you can retrain it into something appealing. I’m glad the cherry limbs didn’t damage the roof of your deck.

    • I added another ‘Thunderhead’ last year that is upright in form, so the old one will have a pilling profile and that’s OK (as long as it survives the indignity of the storm).

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