Integral, a dead deer, and a tree

In summary: Back in 1996 we had a wind storm that brought down one of those widow makers within about one minute of the time that I walked under the tree. It came down right across the road during the time that it took me to ran up to the house for an emergency flashlight. Hah! Missed again! In summary, Integral stopped by and suggested that I post a picture of an old growth tree here on the property [in Oregon]. Although it is the oldest and largest tree here, I don't know the height - I think I did estimate it once - and the age is between 150 and 250 years; with most people who would know landing in the 175 years range. The tree is some what unusal in that it
  • #1
Ivan Seeking
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Integral stopped by and suggested that I post a picture of an old growth tree here on the property [in Oregon]. Although it is the oldest and largest tree here, I don't know the height - I think I did estimate it once - and the age is between 150 and 250 years; with most people who would know landing in the 175 years range. You can also see Integral looking at the infamous dead deer [mostly under a pile of cedar shavings] that was discussed in another thread.


A close shot of Integral for the ladies. As you can see, he is quite fascinated with the deer.
http://img219.imageshack.us/img219/4119/dsc003621hb.jpg


Well, I screwed up this shot but it still conveys some sense of the size of the tree; you can see about half of it in this shot. It isn't possible to get the complete picture without a distant shot, but it is quite beautiful and dangerous. During windstorms we've had branches come down from high above that weigh at least 200-300 Lbs.
http://img219.imageshack.us/img219/9476/dsc003644zx.jpg


These shots never convey much but here you go anyway; looking straight up.
http://img219.imageshack.us/img219/1316/dsc003654mr.jpg
 
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  • #2
Beautiful tree! I hope that sucker isn't anywhere too close to your house in the event it ever decided to topple. :eek:
 
  • #3
Geeezeee! That tree is huge! In the second pic it looks like the tree on the right is about to topple!
 
  • #4
Ivan Seeking said:
A close shot of Integral for the ladies. As you can see, he is quite fascinated with the deer.
Sizing it up for the barbecue? It should be well aged by now. :biggrin:
 
  • #5
Danger said:
Sizing it up for the barbecue? It should be well aged by now. :biggrin:
I don't know about that cedar shavings marinade, though. I would have used mesquite.

That is quite a nice tree. I would like to climb it! :smile:
 
  • #6
Danger said:
Sizing it up for the barbecue? It should be well aged by now. :biggrin:
Ivan is picky about his wood, somehow I don't think Doug Fir is high on his list.

The tree is some what unusal in that it has the large lower limbs. In the old growth stands there are no limbs for as much as 100' (30m). That was the type of log which drove the economy of Oregon through the 50's and into the '80s. Back in the 60's it was not uncommon to see one of those beauts in the back of a log truck cut into 3 logs. Unfortunately due to perhaps unwise logging policy in Reagan years, there are all to few of these left. This particular tree has limited commercial value due to the large low limbs. Ivan is very aware that in a winter wind storm you do not want to walk under this tree. That type of limb is known as "widow makers" to the loggers.
 
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  • #7
I see that the pic link is dead at the moment. It should be back up soon.

Back in 1996 we had a wind storm that brought down one of those widow makers within about one minute of the time that I walked under the tree. It came down right across the road during the time that it took me to ran up to the house for an emergency flashlight. Hah! Missed again! :biggrin:
 
  • #8
mattmns said:
Geeezeee! That tree is huge! In the second pic it looks like the tree on the right is about to topple!

:biggrin: That's not a tree, that's a branch.
 
  • #9
Just for a size reference, I am 6'3" (190cm) tall.

Ivan lives about 15 miles (~ 25km) away, the entire trip is made on secondary roads, I cross 1 major highway, at a stop sign. The road is nearly flat and and without a corner for about 5 miles through grass lands. It is now at the start of grass seed harvesting and many of the fields were freshly cut. We also have many insect feeding sparrows in this area, the young sparrows are just leaving the nest and learning to fly (We have a nest in our eves and were sitting looking out our window, at a fledgling a few feet away from us on the gable of the roof. I was cruising down the road at about 65 -70 mph (105-110 km/hr) when a sparrow glanced of the top of my windshield, I cannot believe the poor little thing could have survived. I was a bit surprised, cause it is pretty rare (I thought !) to hit a bird. About 1.5mi later I hit a second bird...It seems like these little birds impose a speed limit on this stretch of road . The rest of the trip to, and the return from Ivan's were done much slower... No fatalities though I did pass through several more flocks.
 
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  • #10
Integral said:
I was a bit surprised, cause it is pretty rare (I thought !) to hit a bird.

I'll bet the bird was more surprised than you were. :biggrin:
 
  • #11
They seem to either be limited to, or have learned to anticipate a car moving at 55 mph. When we first moved here, I drove up to 90 mph on those roads, but after one episode of machine gun fire, thump, thump thump thump, thump... :rolleyes:, , :cry: :cry: :cry:

The law couldn't do it, but the birds make me drive 55. :biggrin:
 
  • #12
Moonbear said:
Beautiful tree! I hope that sucker isn't anywhere too close to your house in the event it ever decided to topple. :eek:

Over the years we have been forced to drop three trees that were each about 75% as large as the one seen. Two of them were not only within about 50 feet of the house, but they also sat up on a hill above the house. Were they to fall to the north - most of the strongest winds come from the south - either could have completely destroyed the house and killed everyone inside. I have spent more than one sleepless night listening to the howling wind, and the sounds of one to two hundred pound limbs cracking, breaking, and hitting the ground with a heavy thud. For a time, like ten years, I had a logging cable slung around the two really dangerous trees to steer them away from the house should they give way, and I had an expert do this, of course, but in the end they were too dangerous and had to go. We found that both were completely rotten on the inside with only the shell of the trunk supporting the rest of the tree. The tree seen here is believed to be very healthy. There are quite a number of large trees between it and the house, so hopefully it will never have to go; at least not in my lifetime.
 
  • #13
Speaking of birds... :biggrin:

I'm driving to work through the grass fields one day singing along with a (very) old song on the radio...

To everything
Turn, turn, turn
There is a season
Turn, turn, turn
And a time to every purpose under heaven.

Suddenly, a large flock of birds rise up out of the grass field ahead of me and - knowing from previous experience that I'm about to have my windshield SPLATTERED to the MAX - I think to myself, "OMG! Birds! I just washed my windshield! Turn! (I'm slowing down and looking for an escape) Turn! TURN!"

My song on the radio ends just then and the DJ says "And that was the Byrds with 'Turn, turn, turn'" :smile: :smile:

(ok. well... I thought it was weird and kind of funny...) :rolleyes:

HEY! A big old Hoot Owl flew into the side of my car one night on my way home from work... And I've hit more than a few skunks. Then there's the possums and coons and nutria... OH! YEAH! I had to break up a coon/cat fight in the middle of the road one night. BIG rumble. That was exciting... :biggrin:
 
  • #14
Ivan Seeking said:
:biggrin: That's not a tree, that's a branch.
Ohh! Then I guess the tree is even bigger than I thought
 
  • #15
Tsu said:
Speaking of birds... :biggrin:

I'm driving to work through the grass fields one day singing along with a (very) old song on the radio...

To everything
Turn, turn, turn
There is a season
Turn, turn, turn
And a time to every purpose under heaven.

Suddenly, a large flock of birds rise up out of the grass field ahead of me and - knowing from previous experience that I'm about to have my windshield SPLATTERED to the MAX - I think to myself, "OMG! Birds! I just washed my windshield! Turn! (I'm slowing down and looking for an escape) Turn! TURN!"

My song on the radio ends just then and the DJ says "And that was the Byrds with 'Turn, turn, turn'" :smile: :smile:

(ok. well... I thought it was weird and kind of funny...) :rolleyes:

HEY! A big old Hoot Owl flew into the side of my car one night on my way home from work... And I've hit more than a few skunks. Then there's the possums and coons and nutria... OH! YEAH! I had to break up a coon/cat fight in the middle of the road one night. BIG rumble. That was exciting... :biggrin:
Except for the 'flock of birds', this sounds like my neighborhood. :biggrin:

We have coon fights late at night, especially in the fall and spring. And these guys get big.

Also, the tree Integral is standing by would seem on the order of 150 ft or so. I'm guessing we see about 100 ft in that second shot.
 
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  • #16
Integral said:
It is now at the start of grass seed harvesting and many of the fields were freshly cut.

You know, I've never thought about a grass seed harvest! Obviously, all that grass seed in bags at the store comes from somewhere, but it still sounds funny to me to imagine a grass seed harvest. :smile: I'd try to grow my own, but then the city complains. :-p
 
  • #17
And the hot pink shorts really show up well against the back ground of the dark bark. :smile:

Its a beautiful majestic tree.
 
  • #18
hypatia said:
And the hot pink shorts really show up well against the back ground of the dark bark. :smile:

Its a beautiful majestic tree.
Reading the minds of a few of the PF sisters - "Gotta admire a man in pink shorts. Hey, nice legs, Integral!" :biggrin:
 
  • #19
Astronuc said:
Reading the minds of a few of the PF sisters - "Gotta admire a man in pink shorts. Hey, nice legs, Integral!" :biggrin:
Huhh... Thanks adrli...err ..astronuc
 
  • #20
Moonbear said:
You know, I've never thought about a grass seed harvest! Obviously, all that grass seed in bags at the store comes from somewhere, but it still sounds funny to me to imagine a grass seed harvest. :smile: I'd try to grow my own, but then the city complains. :-p
Yep, they do it just like wheat or other grains. It is not uncommon to see a pile of grass seed 35" (10m) high in front of the farms, between harvest and shipping. In the old days about this time of year we would start seeing multiple columns of smoke 100s of feet high in the summer sky from the practice of sterilizing the fields by burning. Since the time smoke from a fire obscured I5 causing a chain reaction accident with several deaths, they have been restricting and discouraging this practice. I'll see if I can get a picture of a smoke column in near future.
 
  • #21
Integral said:
Huhh... Thanks adrli...err ..astronuc
:smile: Hey, I was just reading minds. :biggrin: I seem to remember someone's comment in the PF member photo thread.

Looks like you've been reading the other thread.
 
  • #22
Integral said:
Huhh... Thanks adrli...err ..astronuc
WHERE ARE THOSE LEGS?


EDIT:
Oh, I found them in the first post in some sort of meditative pose. I don't like meditative legs.
 
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  • #23
Ivan Seeking said:
They seem to either be limited to, or have learned to anticipate a car moving at 55 mph. When we first moved here, I drove up to 90 mph on those roads, but after one episode of machine gun fire, thump, thump thump thump, thump... :rolleyes:, , :cry: :cry: :cry:

The law couldn't do it, but the birds make me drive 55. :biggrin:

I5 parallels this road about 200m to the west, you can cruise down I5 at 75mph and never hit a bird, I guess that the birds must learn to stay away from there.
 
  • #24
arildno said:
WHERE ARE THOSE LEGS?


EDIT:
Oh, I found them in the first post in some sort of meditative pose. I don't like meditative legs.
I have never heard of "meditative" legs :smile:

Actually part of the problem was that most of that dried vegetation around my feet is thistles! I was wearing my berkies which do not offer much protection. Step in.. stand very still ... step out!
 
  • #25
Okay, apprehensive legs are rather better, I suppose.
 
  • #26
On the way back from Ivan's I noticed this bit terrain which needed to be recorded.


I call this first shot "Oh that it were a pair"!
http://home.comcast.net/~integral50/scenery/Oh_for_a_pair.JPG

And the wider view, "Life is cruel"
http://home.comcast.net/~integral50/scenery/life_is_cruel.JPG


Here is a shot looking across the fields to I5
http://home.comcast.net/~integral50/scenery/west.JPG

and one looking straight down the road.
http://home.comcast.net/~integral50/scenery/south.JPG
 
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  • #27
They would look mighty fine in a kilt too.
 
  • #28
Integral said:
It is not uncommon to see a pile of grass seed 35" (10m) high in front of the farms, between harvest and shipping.

I didn't realize how much money was sitting there until I purchased some grass seed at the store. Some of those seed piles are worth a small fortune.

In the old days about this time of year we would start seeing multiple columns of smoke 100s of feet high in the summer sky from the practice of sterilizing the fields by burning. Since the time smoke from a fire obscured I5 causing a chain reaction accident with several deaths, they have been restricting and discouraging this practice. I'll see if I can get a picture of a smoke column in near future.

Here's one taken some years ago.
http://img333.imageshack.us/img333/3065/grassfire5zs.jpg
 
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  • #29
Nice limbs on both Integral and the tree! :biggrin:
 
  • #30
Astronuc said:
Also, the tree Integral is standing by would seem on the order of 150 ft or so. I'm guessing we see about 100 ft in that second shot.

You got my curiosity so I made a quick check. At approx 110 feet I measure an angle just over 60 degrees. So it appears to be about 190 feet tall.
 
  • #31
Integral said:
Yep, they do it just like wheat or other grains. It is not uncommon to see a pile of grass seed 35" (10m) high in front of the farms, between harvest and shipping. In the old days about this time of year we would start seeing multiple columns of smoke 100s of feet high in the summer sky from the practice of sterilizing the fields by burning. Since the time smoke from a fire obscured I5 causing a chain reaction accident with several deaths, they have been restricting and discouraging this practice. I'll see if I can get a picture of a smoke column in near future.
No wonder you have trouble running into flocks of birds! I still am trying to figure out how the birds seem to know the moment I try putting new seed on my lawn; as soon as I walk away, they seem to flock in and gobble up every seed! :cry:
 
  • #32
Moonbear said:
No wonder you have trouble running into flocks of birds! I still am trying to figure out how the birds seem to know the moment I try putting new seed on my lawn; as soon as I walk away, they seem to flock in and gobble up every seed! :cry:

You need an owl statue.

Hey, there you go... Integral, we just need put a large owl hood ornaments on the car. :biggrin:
 
  • #33
arildno said:
WHERE ARE THOSE LEGS?


EDIT:
Oh, I found them in the first post in some sort of meditative pose. I don't like meditative legs.
:smile: I thought you said you don't like straight legs either. :rolleyes: Erm...I mean...oh, nevermind, I think I'll keep sucking on my foot, it's easier than explaining.
 
  • #34
Moonbear said:
Erm...I mean...oh, nevermind, I think I'll keep sucking on my foot, it's easier than explaining.
eh...erm..uh.. whaah?? :confused: :smile:
 
  • #35
Ivan Seeking said:
You need an owl statue.

Hey, there you go... Integral, we just need put a large owl hood ornaments on the car. :biggrin:
Oh man that would be a drag! But just maybe it would deflect a few birds!
 

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