Downed Oaks

Quite a few storms with wind have came through since last summer. Hurricane Frances, she just dumped rain. Ivan the terrible brought wind, and, from the worst direction...the east. Most weather comes from the west, so, trees naturaly defend against it better. When Ivan came, it sound like a train. A couple of high wind storms have blown through since then. The last Sunday was feirce. When it hit my house on a west side at 2800 ft., it realy scared me once. We were without power for over 8 hrs. The ground in my yard was real soft and the wind yanked a twig off of a Hickory tree about 14" long and burried it about 3" deep into the ground. This picture here is a good solid Oak that was blown down in one of the earlier storms(I havn't been on this road since that time). Before, Hurricane Opal for example, the Forest Service has opened up the roads for people to collect it up. Strangley, this time they haven't. The treee behind it is a Hemlock. They are being attacked by the Wooly Aldiged, a problem potetionaly as devastating as the American Chest Nut Blight.
Blow Down