A Tree Came Down

Yesterday, part of a cedar tree snapped off during gale force winds, and then flew a good hundred feet downhill before landing one inch short of our cottage. The part that broke off was forty feet long. It came from the top of a tree which is in the clump of trees shown in the upper middle of this shot - just to the left of our house.

It landed here. The handrail has been knocked sideways.

Several aspects to this  have us shaking our heads. First of all, both of us were at home at the time but neither of us heard it happen. Secondly, it had to have flown a good fifty feet downhill, and then pivoted mid-air. Since all the protruding branches faced away from the cottage, it missed the cottage by mere inches.

 It must have landed butt side down, and then pivoted under the stairs. 

This section of the stairs were levered up about a foot by the trunk of the tree. On the left hand side beneath the stairs is a white electrical cable that connects to the cabin. There must have been just enough give or slack so that it didn't snap. The butt end initially landed in a hole which is about two inches away from the water line.

Andreas' hand gives a sense of scale of the trunk.

A view from the side.

Beneath it all is a lawnmower - unscathed, and a boat which also seems to be intact.

At our feet, it looks more like spring than winter.

Zsuzsi's rocks remained in place in spite of sixteen foot tides and gusts of up to 110km. Go figure.