If a tree falls in the park
Remember those good ole’ days when I used to sleep in until 9 am on the weekends and wake up in a leisurely fashion, grab a cup of coffee, and make breakfast? Those days are long gone. After Bowie’s 6 am wake-everyone-up routine on Saturday morning, he and I were doing our regular stroll around the park. Norbuck Park is one of the best parts about living in East Dallas. It has trails through a wooded area that provides shade and mountain bike paths, a prairie grassland section, and wide open fields that have been fun for a gallop with the horses. It’s also a relatively unknown meet up spot that’s close to the lake. The Dallas Running Club uses it as a starting point for Saturday morning long runs.
On this particular morning, I was throwing the frisbee with Bowie in the outfield of the baseball diamonds when I heard a loud cracking and the sound of leaves shaking. One of the enormous cottonwood trees that line the parking lot split at the base and fell, completely crushing a car. While the car alarm was blaring, Bowie and I started walking toward the scene. Luckily, most people had gotten out of the way of the falling tree but one unlucky gentleman (I believe he was the owner of the car) didn’t get away quite fast enough and received some scrapes to his legs. In what seemed like seconds, two fire trucks, ambulances, and a handful of police cruisers showed up to the scene.
I didn’t record it on my phone (plenty of other people were doing that) but here’s some of the video footage that I found on twitter.
https://twitter.com/KiowaKato/status/1155149175149027328
The tree was rotten on the inside and It’s surprising that the tree didn’t fall while we had those massive storms a month ago. It’s also amazing that everyone scattered so quickly and that more people weren’t seriously injured. Apparently cottonwoods are known as “widowmakers.” Their limbs are smaller at the bottom and larger at the top and they are a soft wood tree, known for keeling over during high winds.
Apparently this is the summer of falling trees. If you’ve got any big ones near you, watch out? And the dog’s reaction to the massive tree falling, crushing a car, and the emergency vehicles and sirens? “Mom, why’d you stop throwing the frisbee? Can you throw the frisbee again? I’m ready to catch the frisbee.”
On this particular morning, I was throwing the frisbee with Bowie in the outfield of the baseball diamonds when I heard a loud cracking and the sound of leaves shaking. One of the enormous cottonwood trees that line the parking lot split at the base and fell, completely crushing a car. While the car alarm was blaring, Bowie and I started walking toward the scene. Luckily, most people had gotten out of the way of the falling tree but one unlucky gentleman (I believe he was the owner of the car) didn’t get away quite fast enough and received some scrapes to his legs. In what seemed like seconds, two fire trucks, ambulances, and a handful of police cruisers showed up to the scene.
I didn’t record it on my phone (plenty of other people were doing that) but here’s some of the video footage that I found on twitter.
https://twitter.com/KiowaKato/status/1155149175149027328
The tree was rotten on the inside and It’s surprising that the tree didn’t fall while we had those massive storms a month ago. It’s also amazing that everyone scattered so quickly and that more people weren’t seriously injured. Apparently cottonwoods are known as “widowmakers.” Their limbs are smaller at the bottom and larger at the top and they are a soft wood tree, known for keeling over during high winds.
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| It was one of these big cottonwoods (on the right) |
omg goodness. that is so scary. We went out a few days after we bought this new place last Summer and when we came back (like 20 minutes later) a tree had fallen down our drive. No warning, no storm, nothing.
ReplyDeleteBowie cracks me up. Frisbee?? :)
Yeah I definitely look at all big trees extremely warily now. And 100% don't park near those cottonwoods.
DeleteBowie is a nut. That frisbee (and squirrels) is all he cares about at the park
Yikes! Good to know no one was seriously injured! Man...you just never really know! We have big trees around us, but luckily, I haven't heard of anything like this in our neighbourhood so far. Fingers crossed. And I swear, Bowie is such a good "training" for you guys if/when you do decide to have kids....LOLZ
ReplyDeleteY'all don't get any limbs that come down in the wintertime because of ice or snow?
DeleteOh yeah....not around us, thank God...but we do see tree branches fallen from heavy snow.
DeleteYikes!
DeleteOhh wow... I haven't seen something like this happen. Here we have more palm trees than actual trees.
ReplyDeletewww.fashionradi.com
Our neighbor has a palm tree planted in her front yard and it's adorable. I don't think they survive the winters well here
DeleteThat's so crazy! A large one came down at my parents' house this summer too!
ReplyDeleteAGH! Hope everything was okay over there
DeleteWho cares about falling trees when I'm ready to catch that frisbee! Hello! :)
ReplyDeleteBowie surely doesn't. Hey Blue!
DeleteAre you walking distance to the park?
ReplyDeleteTechnically yes... but we don't walk there
DeleteToo many cities ignore proper tree control (san diego is one of them) and we end up with more dead and sick trees than we need - glad everyone was ok!
ReplyDeleteYou are so right - it was super scary!
Delete6am wake-up? Grrrrrrr. We've crate-trained the dog and she's pretty quiet until she hears people moving around. The 6am thing would kill us, I think.
ReplyDelete