Poinciana Saga, pt 1
Right. Let's write about something more worthwhile.
Last night I was having difficulty getting to sleep, especially as I had work at 6.30 this morning. So, as I was finally drifting off around 12.30am, imagine my annoyance as the poinciana in the backyard decided to kill itself. For those of you from colder climes or with different terminology, a poinciana (aka a gul mohr, or a type of flame tree) is a tropical to sub-tropical tree that can grow pretty large, gets covered in bright red flowers in early summer (typically just before Christmas for us) and has long, hard bean-like pods with grooves in them once they split open that make really good miniature "boats" and percussive instruments. It also has a nasty habit of dropping stuff, like the aforementioned seed pods and, from time to time, entire branches.
This time, an entire quarter of the tree split off at the trunk, rolled a couple of times down the roof and fell into the space beside the house between it and the wall next door. In doing so, it dislodged another two quarters that partly split off and is now precariously perched by a few branches on the roof above my room and partly wrapped around the remaining quarter with the rest of that part slowly, ever so slowly, drooping down into the back yard as the weight (and wind) causes it to seperate further from the base.
An arborist arrived this afternoon to look at it, tells us it's a fungus infection, and informs us that he cannot remove the partly-attached half without bringing in a crane, which couldn't be done until Wednesday, i.e. the day after tomorrow, as tomorrow is the Australia Day public holiday. He needs the crane to support that part of the tree while he lops it so that the weight change doesn't make it roll off the roof and parts of it smash into the house and smash the windows and possibly remove the awning above the back stairs. So we think it's okay, but while my mother is looking at it on the phone to the insurance company, a gust of wind causes the tree to make an alarming crackling noise. So there's much running around and phone calls between my mother, the insurance company and the arborist, and about three hours after she began, the arborist is coming tonight with his crane to at least remove the part of the tree that could damage the house if and when it falls. My apologies to the neighbourhood for the chainsawing at 8pm at night, but if they make any noise complaints...well, I'm sure nothing would come out of it once we told the city council the nature of the emergency. He'll come back Wednesday to take care of the rest, but right now the important part is eliminating the danger.
I hope that, in the removal of the branches, nothing goes wrong...
What I find troubling is that the shop next door got broken into last Tuesday night while I was out and it's possible that the thief climbed the tree - specifically, the part that fell - to get in through the roof. Also, the power company occasionally came by and trimmed the tree back from the powerlines, so all of those open wounds could have been a point of entry for the fungus. I am hoping that it is simply due to natural causes and hasn't been exacerbated by someone climbing the tree.
I am sad to see that tree go, though. It's been there all my life, and it's been there before my parents moved in nearly 30 years ago, so it's certainly old if its size didn't already give that away. Going to be a weird feeling looking out into the backyard.
Pictures will follow soon.
Last night I was having difficulty getting to sleep, especially as I had work at 6.30 this morning. So, as I was finally drifting off around 12.30am, imagine my annoyance as the poinciana in the backyard decided to kill itself. For those of you from colder climes or with different terminology, a poinciana (aka a gul mohr, or a type of flame tree) is a tropical to sub-tropical tree that can grow pretty large, gets covered in bright red flowers in early summer (typically just before Christmas for us) and has long, hard bean-like pods with grooves in them once they split open that make really good miniature "boats" and percussive instruments. It also has a nasty habit of dropping stuff, like the aforementioned seed pods and, from time to time, entire branches.
This time, an entire quarter of the tree split off at the trunk, rolled a couple of times down the roof and fell into the space beside the house between it and the wall next door. In doing so, it dislodged another two quarters that partly split off and is now precariously perched by a few branches on the roof above my room and partly wrapped around the remaining quarter with the rest of that part slowly, ever so slowly, drooping down into the back yard as the weight (and wind) causes it to seperate further from the base.
An arborist arrived this afternoon to look at it, tells us it's a fungus infection, and informs us that he cannot remove the partly-attached half without bringing in a crane, which couldn't be done until Wednesday, i.e. the day after tomorrow, as tomorrow is the Australia Day public holiday. He needs the crane to support that part of the tree while he lops it so that the weight change doesn't make it roll off the roof and parts of it smash into the house and smash the windows and possibly remove the awning above the back stairs. So we think it's okay, but while my mother is looking at it on the phone to the insurance company, a gust of wind causes the tree to make an alarming crackling noise. So there's much running around and phone calls between my mother, the insurance company and the arborist, and about three hours after she began, the arborist is coming tonight with his crane to at least remove the part of the tree that could damage the house if and when it falls. My apologies to the neighbourhood for the chainsawing at 8pm at night, but if they make any noise complaints...well, I'm sure nothing would come out of it once we told the city council the nature of the emergency. He'll come back Wednesday to take care of the rest, but right now the important part is eliminating the danger.
I hope that, in the removal of the branches, nothing goes wrong...
What I find troubling is that the shop next door got broken into last Tuesday night while I was out and it's possible that the thief climbed the tree - specifically, the part that fell - to get in through the roof. Also, the power company occasionally came by and trimmed the tree back from the powerlines, so all of those open wounds could have been a point of entry for the fungus. I am hoping that it is simply due to natural causes and hasn't been exacerbated by someone climbing the tree.
I am sad to see that tree go, though. It's been there all my life, and it's been there before my parents moved in nearly 30 years ago, so it's certainly old if its size didn't already give that away. Going to be a weird feeling looking out into the backyard.
Pictures will follow soon.