Hurricane's direction is looking bad for me.

Tony M

I've heard helicopters a few times last night and today and also big slow moving cargo planes. I don't know if they are for relief or just normal flights.

The chain saw noises are fewer today also.

I bent over so many times yesterday picking up debris my ham strings are tight as heck today. I hate this feeling! I can't go out and bend over a hundred more times to pick up anymore ground debris for a day or so. I might go get the mower and bagger and suck up ground debris in my yard. I can bend over enough to empty a mower's bag into a wheelbarrow I think.

The neighbor's tree cutter's chain saws must've broken last night or something. The guys were using their 4 wheel drive truck to drag huge Magnolia branches out of the back yard using ropes or a chain one or two times. You'd think they would cut them down to size and have the 3 helpers drag them out by hand. One big pile of branches they were dragging out broke the left side of the gate and it's post! They had 8' of clearance so the huge bundle must've been 12' wide or more.

Around noon today, we were watching them drag 12' tree trunk sections out of the neighbors back yard with a 4wheel drive truck and they left a rut from the back yard to the street. They could've easily have been sawed into shorter lengths but they didn't. The saws last night sounded great though. Maybe the boss sent the SAW MEN to another jobsite to get more $$ coming in before somebody else get those jobs.

They did drag a TON of magnolia branches from back there. That tree must've been a lot bigger than I thought.

I saw the truck drag a section of that Wild Cherry tree from their back yard. The way it was dragging made thank God again for making it fall into that yard instead of my cottage. It looked really heavy and it was only one 12' section and it was the uppermost section at that tree. Wild Cherry wood IS very dense and heavy as heck.

vmaxer

F1nut wrote: »

Thanks for the updates Tony. Hopefully all the folks affected by the storm will have their lives back to normal soon.

I agree with Jesse. Please keep us updated and I think all of the prayers helped.

Best of luck to you @Tony M

Tony M

I went to our local burger joint PT's tonight. Just around the corner from my house we see a big crane sitting in this yard stretched to the sky. Couldn't see why at first. We passed the house and on the other side of the roof there were 3 guys on it ( the 8/12 pitch joined a 3/12 pitch section and they were at the junction of that ) and 2 had big chain saws and the third guy was probably supervising. There was a huge tree that had leaned onto the house from the hurricane's wind. ( we later drove by that house after dinner and saw a ton of tree damage on that side street!)

I took some pictures on the way home to show the FOOD RESCUE SET-UP in front of that old K-Mart. Remember, I live right in the heart of this peninsula and I only live a mile from PT's grill, the old K-Mart and trailer park street. If we were still hurting, food and ice wise, we could walk to the Catastrophe Rescue set-up in 5 min. tops. It's that close.

There's a trailer park just 4 houses West of our house, also just behind the Rescue set-up in a way. I got a picture or 2 of one side of the circle drive that surrounds it. The crane was finished and I believe the main branch on the house was on the ground beside the crane. Nobody was around there anymore. But all around that house within 3 football fields had a lot of trees damaged for sure! And my house is just 2 blocks East of this area. This was behind the flooded church I showed in earlier pictures. More pictures to follow in a minute.

Tony M

Across the street and 2 houses over. They're going to let Duke Energy cut power to his house and cut the tree off of his power line and house. I got a picture or three of his serious predicament today.;


My fearless Christian neighbor who boarded up his house across the street and 3 doors down this time, checking for the black ants he saw the other day after it happened.


It seemed A LOT of Cedar trees tilted over or fell completely. They are old ones though. Maybe they were just weak and brittle.
OK...Here's some more pics.. The Food and Ice Rescue set-up. It goes back about 3 rows deep too.;





Some of the trailer park war zone;



Across from the trailer park;

The house that the needed crane service help.;



Across from the house with the crane going toward my house as the crow flies.;


The church's yard water flooding is receding nicely;


My neighbor's cleaned-up yard coming next...

The tree cutters put there tree sections in front of the neighbors yard who lives across the street. That neighbor, who we know very well, knocked on our door at 6:15PM tonight. I go to the door and he IS PI**ED OFF pretty bad. He knew those guys put this stuff from my next door neighbor's yard IN HIS YARD instead of in front of the yard it came out of!


Picks to come in a minute...

Tony M

I see I wrote that the trailer park was 4 houses down from me. I meant to type that it is 4 houses down from the house that needed that crane service's help. That little area really took a hit. Maybe a little twister reeked havoc during the night.

Tony M

Tree removal pile that my neighbor across the street was P'd about;





Part of that Wild Cherry tree. It was rotten in the middle! I might chain saw what's left to see if I can remove the rotten stump some how. That will be later though!



Giant Pine tree slices from a yard across the street and 4 doors down. I think their other hauling truck and shredder were full so they dropped these huge slices here with this other crap.;

Magnolia tree top;


More Magnolia tree limbs;

Tony M

The cleaned up yard next door on my driveway side of the house. I thought those guys broke my neighbor's gate post and left side gate, but only the gate was a little busted up. The post looked OK but I didn't shake it. It might be broken and just put back upright for looks. ;








Some pics. might be redundant , sorry.










Look at the height of that pile of crap they put across the street.

they almost used up that guy's double lot frontage;

Tony M

Here's that back field I've been taking care of for 25+ years. I cleaned up a lot of debris yesterday in that field. A lot!;

I've tried to keep vines off of the Pine trees but lost the battle for the past 7 years or so. I'll clean the bases this fall I hope.;




My Crape Myrtles weathered the storm very well. They had some leaves and blooms still on them before the storm. Now they're barren.


That's about it for a while guys and gals.

I took the whole day off today. I wanted to mow and vacuum up leaves and crap but never got to it. I posted pictures instead. My wife on the other hand, went out and wheelbarrowed some leaves she had raked up the other day, to the back corner of the field like we do in the fall. She told me tonight she should've done like I did and just rested tonight. She got the driveway cleaned up pretty well and also along our front yard at the street. I helped at the front a long the street the other day although she finished it while I went back to that field.

The birds, squirrels, turtles and rabbits and I guess Possums and Racoons like that field too.

It also helps to attract certain types of birds that only hang around a sparsely wooded field for eating and breeding too. That reminds me. The Wild Cherry tree that got snapped off was a regular home for Great Crested Flycatcher birds to nest in near the top. They're rare birds to see for sure. And we had them nesting almost every year. I don't know where they pick next year...

They're a ton of trees laying over all over this area and I just can't drive and take pictures at the same time to often. My wife refuses to handle the camera and take pictures while I drive. And she won't drive around and let me take pictures. She doesn't take pictures and NEVER HAS. Frikn WEIRD if you ask me!

I might get out and take some more soon. We'll see.

Thanks again for all the concern you all showed me toward me and my family and home and electronics and speakers.

We surely dodged a canon ball this time.

I hope and pray all the others who still need help and assistance find all they need in the coming months. May God bless them as he has us. Amen.

Clipdat

Thanks for all the pics, Tony. Helps us get an idea of the level of damage, as well as how certain areas were impacted more strongly than others.

I'm really glad that you got lucky with the way that one tree broke and got launched into your neighbor's back yard, instead of straight into your cottage/man cave/stereo room. That could've been ugly!

Tony M

I could see my wife saying "those Triton speakers cost HOW MUCH?".... IF I had to tell her we need to file a claim for damages out there. That would be UGLY too.

EndersShadow

Tony M wrote: »

Giant Pine tree slices from a yard across the street and 4 doors down. I think their other hauling truck and shredder were full so they dropped these huge slices here with this other crap.;

Magnolia tree top;

Tony... those pine slices look like they would be perfect for natural outdoor seating around a fire pit.... If I was you, I'd grab them in a heartbeat and then maybe just seal the top and bottom and call it a day.....

vcwatkins

Got thuper thereal across the street Wednesday. Newly repaired power lines were in play.

Even the other tree guys were impressed

This displaced hawk was chilling on in-laws' pecan stump with mate up in oak tree scouting new homesites

vcwatkins

After making the difficult cuts, this guy shouted to the crew "I hope you guys were taking notes, 'cause I'm done after this one."
https://youtu.be/4pd1b48IL08

vcwatkins

Things settled down here a bit yesterday afternoon. Did have a risk that the power plant would flood yesterday. I gassed up jic, but it looks like we might be okay. Very quiet this am. Still looks a bit like a war zone with head-high debris stacks everywhere but at driveway aprons.

Tony M

WOW...
Thanks for showing us those pictures. I heard it was bad, really bad in some areas around here. Are you in the Forest Hills neighborhood or Georgetown neighborhood ?

I can now truly see some of the best Hurricane rescue relief teams are in our area for sure.

Cranes, Bucket trucks that reach to the sky( ), Expert Chainsaw operators and Food Prep and Ice serving outdoor relief stations working tirelessly to bring this city quickly as they can , back to safety and livability.

Those are huge, huge piles of debris!!!

I have yet to hear the big dump trucks and tractor-trailer dump trucks and grappler crane trucks rumbling through our neighborhoods. I'm sure they're stationed and ready to start hauling and clearing our streets again. Years past, they were as fast as the tree cutters in removing tree sections, logs and branches off of the sides of roads.

I noticed the smell of marijuana every once in a while this past week. I have a couple neighbors who I suspect. I'm sure it's another fine way, besides drinking, to deal with this mental stress.

I

Tony M

Tony... those pine slices look like they would be perfect for natural outdoor seating around a fire pit.... If I was you, I'd grab them in a heartbeat and then maybe just seal the top and bottom and call it a day.....[/quote]

I don't really have space for a fire pit. The neighbor next door DO have one. I think they might be the fine outdoor furniture type though. But who really knows.

I've had a few hernia surgeries and feel I need 2 more because the stitches have come loose. I can roll those log slices into my yard but my cottage takes up so much of my yard now, there's not much space left. I have that field I take care of but if I have a fire that gets out of hand and the law/fire chief sees that I had a fire pit gathering on somebody else's property and then it burned down another neighbors house or two, I'd probably loose all my savings and my wife's savings too. Quoting Drew, " That would be ugly!"

I appreciate the incite as to the use those log slices could be used for.

Tony M

Insight...^^^^DUH.

Well my wife came in last night to tell me there's a crane in our back neighbor's yard doing something.

Sure enough, there was some large tree damage behind the field and the only way to get to it was from our neighbor's drive way. They removed some last night and then some today too. Man I was lucky and blessed nothing fell on my little cottage.
Here's some picks;



This Tree cutting Company had a little bulldozer with grappling teeth on the front. The guy stood on the back. It was very cool to watch him move a big pile of limbs effortless. You can just see those aggressive grapplers in the center of this picture.;

verb

Tony M wrote: »

I took the whole day off today. I wanted to mow and vacuum up leaves and crap but never got to it. I posted pictures instead. My wife on the other hand, went out and wheelbarrowed some leaves she had raked up the other day, to the back corner of the field like we do in the fall.

Tony you got this marriage thing down pat! Well done sir!

krazypolk

krazypolk wrote: »

Hermitism wrote: »

Scott, you should make your avatar into the other MacGruber.

And have him fall from the Fox Plaza.

Tony M

One mile from house, I thought about my camera. I forgot to bring it! I knew I was going down into a war zone area and still forgot it. But it would've just been more tree damage pictures anyway.

I drove down that road that parallels the intracoastal waterway but about a 1/2 mile from it around noon today. I heard it was a war zone after Florence blew through and the info was right. The road is open and very clear BUT the tree damage was pretty bad almost everywhere. It's not like a Cat. 4 would've probably caused but it was still bad. There's still a lot of trees broken and leaning that haven't been cut down yet.

I also saw 2 grappler trucks starting the debris clean-up in our County. But it will surely take months to clean up all this damage that's piled up in front of almost every yard in the County. I have that back field to put my little debris in and the limbs that fell in the field will get cut up and piled into the back corner as usual.

I had gone to buy an old Sony STR-D2010 receiver ( which I did ) and guess what, a debris grappler truck was in front of his house picking up what he was able to put out at the road. I bought from this guy before and he guarantees his stuff works.


I had to wait less than 5 min. and all was good. The man pointed out a tree in his yard that broke but is still attached about 12' up. He hasn't tackled cutting it down yet. He's a little leery of it.