Thursday 18 February 2010

What happened overnight

I was just going to do a quick post to show you these three cases I have made from the brown paper I showed you in my last post. I love the way they look so different - green chiffon on the left, blue chiffon in the centre and fucshia on the right.................................then
Bill got up at 3 am this morning to let Jock out and look what he found - it happened sometime after 10.30 pm last night and none of us heard it, we all think the tree quietly subsided during the heavy rainfall we were having.

The massive root ball has lifted the greenhouse right up, in the process snapping the mains water, the rain water and the power cabling. Sadly we lost 11,000 litres of rain water as well as having the mains gushing for however long after the event happened till Bill turned the water off at the front fence. From a financial point of view we were lucky the root ball lifted so far that there is no hope of it falling back into the hole as they cut off the rest of the tree. Apparently if that happens, it is our responsibility to have the stump ground, which can cost as much as $2,000.
The flower pots on the ground have landed right way up and all!


There is a very large branch resting on the roof. The insurance company has been wonderful so far - I rang them at 6.30am this morning and they had tree loppers here by 8.30am. The plumber had been so we had water, our electrician son sorted out some temporary power arrangements, and everything was happening.

Here is one of the tree loppers on top of the roof this morning. As I write this in mid-afternoon he is back there again. The chipper has moved into our driveway, there are thumps and bumps as lengths of tree land on the roof, and the noise from the chipper is deafening! They expect to be here for a couple of days yet as we have very limited access and they have to cart everything out to the front in wheel barrow sized pieces! I think we will have recouped every bit of the insurance premiums we have paid for 42 years and then some when this exercise is finished. Thank goodness for insurance.

Here is a photo to remind you of what the tree looked like in more peaceful times!!





8 comments:

  1. Oh help Robin,l I am so glad it didnt demolish the house but it all looks bad enough, and all those lovely plants in the tree as well. What a horrible mess and as you say thank goodness for insurance.
    You do seem to have suddenly had a lot of rain after such a long dry time.
    Oh and I love your brown paper cases.

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  2. Whoops, I think they are made from your painted batting not paper!

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  3. Oh dear Robin, what a catastrophe! but glad you are all ok.
    love the cases.

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  4. Thank goodness that no-one was hurt and that you are insured. What a beautiful tree to have lost though.

    Love the colours of the cases - brown paper is so versatile.

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  5. Those three cases are gorgeous Robin - I must try that technique. How sad to lose such a mature tree not to mention all that precious water. When you think about it, it could have been so much worse - at least you were insured and there was no damage to your house.

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  6. Holey Moley Batman--I mean Robin--how scary is that.
    Thank goodness you are both ok and like you say you have insurance to cover it all.
    I bet your boys have wonderful memories of climbing in that tree too.

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  7. Oh my goodness, is that your bedroom under that tree???? So lucky it wasn't windy as well.
    We removed a large gum tree that was uncomfortably close to the house, they are renowned for dropping large branches.

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  8. wow Robin - what a fright you must have had - hope it all gets sorted fast and your water appears as in a miracle

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