Barnett 2005 Greetings, page 2

While we had no water catastrophes this year -- ie., no big flood, major snowstorm, etc.-- we did have a terrible wind storm which did major damage to our willow trees. We were lucky, though: Our neighbors lost 4 large trees, one of which fell into their pond which made cleanup very difficult for them.

Here is a photo of one of three areas where willow branches of 1+ foot in thichness fell. The branch fell in the stream we created to flow from the pond to the river. It was fortunate that the weight of the branch missed the flower beds and especially the bridge.

The other fallen branches were about the same size. Once again, we were fortunate that one fell just beside Dot's blueberry bushes, and not on top of them. The third branch fell in an open area beside the river.

The pile of debris we gathered was about 20 feet in diameter. I should have taken a picture of that burn!

There was much damage to the trees from the wind, and we eventually had to have a professional come in and do some major trimming -- we hope that will help prevent future problems.

Dot calls this "Willow Waterfall." The willow debris lent itself well to a little Photoshop manipulation. If you look closely, you can see many faces -- maybe they were the forrest gnomes who protected us from even worse damage.