The past several weeks have been sweltering here in Virginia. Most of the days in July and August have been over 90 degrees with heat indexes well into the 100s. We try to get outside work done as early as possible in the day because by early afternoon, it’s just too hot to function and it doesn’t cool down until well after dark.
Along with the heat, we’ve been experiencing afternoon thunderstorms. It’s incredible – at 5:00, there isn’t a cloud in the sky. Yet by 6:00, it is dark overhead and thunder is rumbling. In previous years, most of these would just blow over and occasionally we would get a quick shower. This summer however, we are getting drenched. One afternoon we got 4 1/2 inches of rain – I’m not kidding! Our driveway was completely washed out. A few days later, we got over an inch in just about an hour. The winds that came with it were really strong and we had a huge branch go down over the driveway. Gator spent the whole weekend repairing the driveway and cutting up wood.
This week another one of those storms came through and we got 2 1/2 inches of rain with howling winds. This time a tree came down in our yard. It wasn’t just an ordinary tree – it was one of those majestic maples that have graced the yard for a hundred years.
As I’ve said in previous posts, most of these trees are so old that they are starting to die. Many are hollow inside and just aren’t strong anymore. I thought this was still a fairly healthy tree, but as you can see from where it broke off, the inside was rotting and it just couldn’t stand up to the wind.
It’s so sad to lose these gorgeous trees. This one will really change the look of the yard.
Just when we thought we were getting caught up! Oh well, good thing we have a chain saw and a tractor!