Tag Archives: weather

Finding Gretchen’s Sycamore Tree after Hurricane Helene

We raised this tree from knee-high, so we wanted to see how it was doing after Hurricane Helene.

[Finding Gretchen's Sycamore Tree after Hurricane Helene with chainsaw and dogs 2024-10-12]
Finding Gretchen’s Sycamore Tree after Hurricane Helene with chainsaw and dogs 2024-10-12

After I chainsawed through many yards of fallen trees, bushes, and vines, we found it battered but still standing.

Blondie and Honeybun were almost as happy as Gretchen to see it.

Here is a video playlist:
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLLk2OxkA4UvwnPsm5_5P9lTV26Mqd-SWR&si=1HpY-Z3kg72Izfyx

gq

[The tree with the afternoon sun, 16:59:15]
The tree with the afternoon sun, 16:59:15

jsq

[Movie: Gretchen comes to her tree, 17:40:09]
Movie: Gretchen comes to her tree, 17:40:09

PP

[Movie: Big pine on path to the pond, 17:43:40]
Movie: Big pine on path to the pond, 17:43:40

DFSP

[Deadfall on south path, 17:55:46]
Deadfall on south path, 17:55:46

-jsq

Fire in wood stove 2024-10-12

It was 53 F this morning.

So cold after Hurricane Milton, that I lit a fire in the wood stove, using deadfall from Hurricane Helene.

[Movie: fire in wood stove (5.8M)]
Movie: fire in wood stove (5.8M)

Here’s a video:
https://youtu.be/JKSSZLMf6lw

-jsq

Tree on corn crib 2024-09-30

Turns out we do have one tree on one roof after Hurricane Helene.

[Tree on corn crib]
Tree on corn crib

Fortunately, it did not break through the corn crib roof.

[River and Blondie under the roots]
River and Blondie under the roots

The dogs think the tree roots are a great cool play place.

-jsq

Small saw and little dogs on a log 2024-10-03

Small saw path, or big saw path?

Small saw, she said.

[16-inch Ego electric chainsaw on water oak deadfall]
16-inch Ego electric chainsaw on water oak deadfall

In her defense, we did saw a bunch of smaller stuff before we came to this deadfall. And that EGO 16-inch electric chainsaw will saw bigger logs than that. But I prefer the bigger saw for that sort of thing.

Meanwhile, on another log, the pale dogs were doing their circus act. Continue reading →

Hurricane Helene 2024-09-27

Howling and bumping from about 11:30 PM to 2 AM. Hurricane Helene made Debby and Idalia sound like nothing.

And the morning light showed it was worse than that.

When we moved back here in 2007, old timers told us they remembered this oak on the back driveway from when they were young, early in the 20th century.

[Ancient oak]
Ancient oak

This other oak just missed the red-iron building we were in. Continue reading →

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 →