Category Archives: weather

Neighborly morning chainsawing 2024-08-10

This oak tree was still on the phone line, blocking Quarterman Road, almost a week after Hurricane Debby. So a bunch of neighbors removed it.

[Neighborly chainsaw cleanup of oak on phone line 2024-08-10, SW Quarterman Road, by Brooks, Ashley, Larsen, Barzallo, and Quarterman families]
Neighborly chainsaw cleanup of oak on phone line 2024-08-10, SW Quarterman Road, by Brooks, Ashley, Larsen, Barzallo, and Quarterman families

Here are some video snippets:
https://youtu.be/n41Tm07huCQ

Thanks to William Brooks, elder and younger, Dennis Ashley, Tom Larsen, Alexandria Larsen, Racheal Brooks, and Max Barzallo.

Thanks to Wild Green Future for the grant that bought the WWALS 24-inch Husqvarna 460 chainsaw that I used to saw the main trunk. Turns out the oak heart was mostly rotten, which may have something to do with why it blew over.

-jsq John S. Quarterman Continue reading →

River, Sky, Gretchen, rainbow 2024-06-05

We were picking blackberries when this rainbow appeared.

[River, Sky, Gretchen, Rainbow]
River, Sky, Gretchen, Rainbow

River and Sky, the dark and pale dogs, are our two newest. They are both Carolina Dogs, a landrace breed.

Gretchen may have been annoyed that the cloud usually above her head had turned into a rainbow.

-jsq

Hurricane Idalia and aftermath 2023-09-02

A few scenes from during and after Hurricane Idalia.

We had many deadfalls, but no property or personal damage. So we were much luckier than many others.

[Deadfalls, power lines, cooking, rainfall]
Deadfalls, power lines, cooking, rainfall

This still just looks like heavy rain, but the video shows the wind was blowing. Idalia’s eye went a few miles east of us, but those were probably still 60 mph winds from the north. Continue reading →

Trees, lightning, hurricane, chainsaw 2022-11-10

Some weeks ago, lightning struck a bunch of trees and killed them.

During Hurricane Nicole, two of them fell across the front driveway.

A little chainsaw work cleared the driveway.

[Lightning, Hurricane, Chainsaw]
Lightning, Hurricane, Chainsaw

Before

These two pictures are from November 5, 2022. Notice how the dead trees are in a line. Continue reading →

Maypops, rain gauges 2022-08-27

Now that it’s raining, there are many native, tasty, showy maypops. Also known as passion flower, Passiflora incarnata.

[Maypops, rain gauges]
Maypops, rain gauges

Unfortunately, there is also nasty invasive exotic Japanese climbing fern, Lygodium japonicum. Continue reading →

Starlink dish 2021-12-27

Update 2022-01-12: Starlink Router inside 2022-01-10.

Turns out Starlink doesn’t work too well during thunderstorms. Other than that, so far so good.

[Longleaf, solar panels, roof mount]
Longleaf, solar panels, roof mount

Also looks good against longleaf pine. Continue reading →

Bee tree down, bees still up 2021-07-14

Fortunately, when the bee tree snapped off, it broke above the bee hive. So our pollinating native bees are still humming in and out of there. Their exit used to be on the other side of the tree, but they’re using this new entrance now.

[Bee hive in bee tree stob]
Bee hive in bee tree stob

I guess they will relocate, but at least they did not get suddenly evicted.

The bee tree was far from the largest of the fourteen big trees down we’ve counted so far. Two more were less than a hundred feet away towards the cypress swamp. Continue reading →