Look at that soil in the last shot. Has Oregon got some nice rich earth or what?:

That wind sure keeps the air clean.

I think it is a Douglas Fir, but it didn't fall because of woeful under-funding of our schools..

I am trying to say nice things this week.

This tree fell in order that cold neighbors may have firewood.

How nice.

My neighbor was actually standing in his living room with his 9 month old baby and watched the whole thing (from that window you can see in the middle photo).

The only damage, literally, was that a branch rubbed against my neighbor's garage door, marring it slightly. It will probaby take ten minutes with a sponge and some soapy water to clean it up.

rickynoragg, you must be psychic. The tree was stacked firewood in a neighbor's yard about four hours after it fell.

buddy,

Thanks, that was a nice thing to say.

No root structure means less cleanup, too.

We had this happen too on our "parklike setting" (the wordes in the RE add" home three weeks after we moved in. We had three 50-75 ft dougs fall in a V around our house. Scared the crap out of us when it happened, but all was well never touched the house.

This was a good thing!

Very fortunate situation.

These comments crack me up-and that's nice!

Did anyone hear it fall?

Also note in the last shot the tree developed a very shallow root structure. That happens when a growing tree gets watered along with the lawn. There is no need for the tree's roots to go wide and deep to get enough moisture to sustain the tree and in turn stabilize the tree.

I just love trees, especially the big trees.

I think I'll just go outside and hug the biggest tree I can find.

Mmmmm.

Nope...that's a Doug Fir, not a cedar. You can tell by two things in the photos: the limb and leaf structure, and the root structure. Doug firs are notoriously short-rooted.

I hope nobody comes in and tries to cut it up; there was just a report recently on why taking downed trees and burned trees is a really bad thing. They should just leave it where it is, and let Gaiia take it from there.

Of course, she'll probably import termites to the site, who will in turn release huge quantities of methane gas, which is well-known to cause global warming. This is apparently something only humans and termites can accomplish.

This is a real conundrum: what to do, what to do (if anything)?

Hey, that was NOT NICE. Play along or be banned forever (or re-banned, if you are who I think you are).

I think it was real thoughtful of developers in this area to leave these future firewood for the immediate neighborhood. I mean, Douglas firs are noted for being shallow rooted and growing in groupings of hundreds of trees. All of these trees provide support to each other in windstorms, and usually it's only peripheral trees which suffer any extensive damage. But, when housing developments come in, there is an aesthetic benefit to leaving standing small stands or individual Doug firs. It helps "sell" the neighborhood with the ambience. Thus, the developers have thoughtfully provided firewood.

And a thrill.

I mean...what's insurance for, anyway?

Also, I curious about the fall. How many properties did the final drop affect?

Asuming it fell across multiple properties, was there a division of the wood based upon that? Or was it the property of the tree-owner?

final drop?

Spinal Tap

need a map
in Marx's lap
to each
from each
what's he teach?
watch the sap

it's sticky!

Godfry,

The tree actually straddled the line between my neighbor's property and mine, but fell completely across their property. It fell across their property, but didn't reach the one adjacent to theirs. Another neighbor got all the firewood, because he was the one who wanted to get to work cutting the tree down.

It's been interesting to learn a little more about these crazy, tiny-rooted doug firs. This one, though, didn't really lend much ambience to the 'hood. I think I would have cut it down preemptively if I knew it had any risk of falling over. The funny thing is that, no one whom I have told about the fall (without them seeing pictures or seeing it in person) seems to know what tree I am talking about... I don't think anyone ever noticed it.