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
  • #36
Ivan Seeking said:
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.
This is right in line with the average mature Doug Fir.. 180'-200'
 
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  • #37
Ivan Seeking said:
Hey, there you go... Integral, we just need put a large owl hood ornaments on the car. :biggrin:
You could just paint your whole car to look like an owl. That would eliminate Integral's concerns about drag.
 
  • #38
Moonbear said:
You could just paint your whole car to look like an owl. That would eliminate Integral's concerns about drag.
Wow, flying low and quiet,... I like that! Wouldn't we have to keep an eye out for those cats Ivan mentioned?
 
  • #39
Integral said:
This is right in line with the average mature Doug Fir.. 180'-200'

It looks like they can reach up to 100 meters in height.

Well MB, it looks like we're safe. At 190 feet, it would fall about, oh, an inch short of the house. That's funny! Its almost exactly 300 feet to the house measured along the same line as used for this measurement. I know for certain since this follows the same line as my power and water, which I put in. We would probably have a foot or two of grace, at most. Whewwww. :cool:
 
  • #40
Ivan Seeking said:
Well MB, it looks like we're safe. At 190 feet, it would fall about, oh, an inch short of the house. That's funny! Its almost exactly 300 feet to the house measured along the same line as used for this measurement. I know for certain since this follows the same line as my power and water, which I put in. We would probably have a foot or two of grace, at most. Whewwww. :cool:
Okay, I know it's been a long time since I took classes like geometry, but if it's 300 ft to the house, and the tree is 190 ft tall, how is it that it will fall only an inch short of the house? It seems that even with a shift of the trunk if the roots came up with it, you'd have a good 100 ft clearance still. :confused:
 
  • #41
Moonbear said:
Okay, I know it's been a long time since I took classes like geometry, but if it's 300 ft to the house, and the tree is 190 ft tall, how is it that it will fall only an inch short of the house? It seems that even with a shift of the trunk if the roots came up with it, you'd have a good 100 ft clearance still. :confused:

It's 300 feet to the house from the point that I called 110 feet from the tree. In the first shot you can see the house up on the hill.
 
  • #42
Ivan Seeking said:
It's 300 feet to the house from the point that I called 110 feet from the tree. In the first shot you can see the house up on the hill.
110 feet on the other side of the tree! Aha! Now I get it. Hmm...maybe you shouldn't have planted that deer next to the tree; it might not be a good idea to give it lots of fertilizer. :smile:
 
  • #43
Moonbear said:
Hmm...maybe you shouldn't have planted that deer next to the tree; it might not be a good idea to give it lots of fertilizer. :smile:

And here I thought that was a good idea. Thanks alot; now I'm haunted by dead deer. :eek: I can see it now. That extra foot of growth will be all that it takes to reach me while I'm lying peacefully on the couch. :biggrin:
 
  • #44
There are so many things that I want to say here that are just too incorrect...
 
  • #45
Ivan Seeking said:
It looks like they can reach up to 100 meters in height.

Well MB, it looks like we're safe. At 190 feet, it would fall about, oh, an inch short of the house. That's funny! Its almost exactly 300 feet to the house measured along the same line as used for this measurement. I know for certain since this follows the same line as my power and water, which I put in. We would probably have a foot or two of grace, at most. Whewwww. :cool:
Ya got no worries, the top 50' is all soft and flexy, its that bottom 100' that'll do the damage.

Back in my boy scout days, we spent the summer of '62 rebuilding a cabin at one of our frequent campsites. It was a beauty when we were done. Like new from brand new cedar shake roof to the plank floor. Then, 12 Oct '62 brought to the PNW a wind storm still known as the Columbus Day storm. It was the tail end of a lost Pacific Typhoon unleashed on the valleys and mountains of western Oregon.

After the storm, our new cabin was the only cabin damaged, it took a 1m diameter giant, similar (only completely different, it was a cedar!) to Ivan's, right across the ridge pole. All that was left was kindling!
 
  • #46
It looks like the tree is on the south side and slight east of your house, and there is a smaller tree just behind it. Do the winds blow predominantly from the west - ours generally do. In that case, the tree would likely not hit the house unless you get a wind from the southeast.
 
  • #47
Moonbear said:
: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.
Oh, Integral's legs might have appealed to me at my grunt level.
That's why his legs' meditativeness was such a turn-off.
How possibly could a philosopher provoke a grunt in me?

(Apprehensiveness isn't good enough either)
 
  • #48
Moonbear said:
:smile: . . . . :rolleyes: Erm...I mean...oh, nevermind, I think I'll keep sucking on my foot, it's easier than explaining.
Would you like some "sweet and sauce" with that? :biggrin:
 
  • #49
arildno said:
. . . . That's why his legs' meditativeness was such a turn-off.
How possibly could a philosopher provoke a grunt in me?

(Apprehensiveness isn't good enough either)

I was thinking it seemed more of a "contemplative" moment. Contemplation is good.
 
  • #50
Astronuc said:
I was thinking it seemed more of a "contemplative" moment. Contemplation is good.
Contemplation is very nice, but it doesn't evoke grunts. It might be born of grunts, but that's the complete opposite, isn't it?
Hence, the turn-off.
 
  • #51
arildno said:
Contemplation is very nice, but it doesn't evoke grunts. It might be born of grunts, but that's the complete opposite, isn't it?
Hence, the turn-off.
I take it you are looking for impetuous then, the opposite of contemplative?

Maybe this question belongs in the other thread. :biggrin:
 
  • #52
Astronuc said:
It looks like the tree is on the south side and slight east of your house, and there is a smaller tree just behind it. Do the winds blow predominantly from the west - ours generally do. In that case, the tree would likely not hit the house unless you get a wind from the southeast.

Its slightly west, and south of the house. The heaviest winds usually come from the south and west. :rolleyes: But, as Integral pointed out, the top third isn't really dangerous to a house.

Maybe Integral can confirm this, or not... You've heard of urban legends, well, I have a rural legend. A logger once told me about the old days and how things used to be done. He claimed that some of the best of the old time loggers would actually swing from one old growth tree to be next, by rope; sometimes over 200 feet up, and while carrying a chain saw. :eek: He claims to know one guy who still does this.

That is a really tough life. When Tsu worked at the local hospital she saw some terrible crush injuries. Not to mention all of the things that a chainsaw can do to a body.
 
  • #53
Ivan Seeking said:
Its slightly west, and south of the house. The heaviest winds usually come from the south and west. :rolleyes: But, as Integral pointed out, the top third isn't really dangerous to a house.

Maybe Integral can confirm this, or not... You've heard of urban legends, well, I have a rural legend. A logger once told me about the old days and how things used to be done. He claimed that some of the best of the old time loggers would actually swing from one old growth tree to be next, by rope; sometimes over 200 feet up, and while carrying a chain saw. :eek: He claims to know one guy who still does this.

That is a really tough life. When Tsu worked at the local hospital she saw some terrible crush injuries. Not to mention all of the things that a chainsaw can do to a body.

Oh my! I have never heard of that! Not that I have ever worked around an active logging show but my skeptic hackles are bristling. Most of the old loggers I knew were pretty well grounded! Why would a faller need to be in the canopy? HOW did he GET into the canopy? Where did the conveniently located ropes come from?

One thing that you need to keep in mind is that the common terrain that loggers must deal with is more like this:

http://home.comcast.net/~integral50/scenery/Maryspeak11.JPG \[/URL]

http://home.comcast.net/~integral50/scenery/steep.JPG[/URL] [/PLAIN]

one has to have a lot of respect for the fellow that carries a chainsaw and paraphernalia up and down a slope like that. In as sense logging is simply above ground mining, with a set of dangers which are comparable to any job on Earth considered dangerous.
 
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  • #54
Integral said:
Oh my! I have never heard of that! Not that I have ever worked around an active logging show but my skeptic hackles are bristling.

Same here. but crazier things have been true...

Most of the old loggers I knew were pretty well grounded! Why would a faller need to be in the canopy? HOW did he GET into the canopy? Where did the conveniently located ropes come from?

Why did they climb the trees? Traditionally, they had the climbing spikes, so they must have had some reason. What comes to mind are the competitions at state fairs and such where they race up and down a tall pole with their spikes. It does suggest a motive to support the claim.
 
  • #55
Ivan Seeking said:
Same here. but crazier things have been true...



Why did they climb the trees? Traditionally, they had the climbing spikes, so they must have had some reason. What comes to mind are the competitions at state fairs and such where they race up and down a tall pole with their spikes. It does suggest a motive to support the claim.

In the old days they would climb into the top of a tree, cut the top out then run their rigging to the top to use the tree as a boom to haul cut logs to the landing. This was only done to a couple of trees for each logging show. Now days they have mechanical booms that serve that purpose. Drive the truck to the top of the show plant and anchor your boom and start cutting. It seems ingrained in old time Oregonians to see these big old trees more as potential logs then trees... pretty sad when you think about it.
 
  • #56
Okay I had better update my book.

Chainsaw wielding loggers probably did not swing from tree to tree like Tarzan.

Got it. :biggrin:
 
  • #57
Ivan Seeking said:
Its slightly west, and south of the house. The heaviest winds usually come from the south and west. :rolleyes: But, as Integral pointed out, the top third isn't really dangerous to a house.
I guessed a late morning shot. West and south would put the tree falling toward the northwest with highest probability. Keep that in mind.

Ivan Seeking said:
Maybe Integral can confirm this, or not... You've heard of urban legends, well, I have a rural legend. A logger once told me about the old days and how things used to be done. He claimed that some of the best of the old time loggers would actually swing from one old growth tree to be next, by rope; sometimes over 200 feet up, and while carrying a chain saw. :eek: He claims to know one guy who still does this.

That is a really tough life. When Tsu worked at the local hospital she saw some terrible crush injuries. Not to mention all of the things that a chainsaw can do to a body.
There may be some black and white movies of logging in the old days up in the NW or Alaska. They used to string cables up and down slopes to move logs.
 
  • #58
Ivan Seeking said:
Okay I had better update my book.



Got it. :biggrin:
Now I am not going to rule the possibility that once a topper was in the crown that he would not look for a short cut to the next tree. Can you imagine working your way up 100'+ into the top of a tree, cutting the top out then climbing back down 100' + walking 20' to the neighboring tree and doing it again? Oh yeah, for some reason I have this gut feeling that the 2 topped trees where pretty close together. I can see a real tempation to grap a limb from the neighboring tree and swing across rather then make the entire trip down and back up. Did they?? I do not know!

Perhaps we ought to ask Jedi Jack? He worked in the woods for a bit, he might have some tall tales to spin?!
 
  • #59
I guessed a late morning shot. West and south would put the tree falling toward the northwest with highest probability. Keep that in mind.

Actually it was evening, nearly 8pm when we took the pic.
 
  • #60
Integral said:
Now I am not going to rule the possibility that once a topper was in the crown that he would not look for a short cut to the next tree.

Oooooh, I thought that you were saying that they would only need to climb one tree per site, which would pretty much rule out the need for tree hopping.
 
  • #61
Astronuc said:
I guessed a late morning shot. West and south would put the tree falling toward the northwest with highest probability. Keep that in mind.

Really, it could fall any direction but due south. That 110 feet is the distance, going south, to the front door of my office.

I am pretty sure that we had a micro burst pass over here a few weeks ago. It was raining so hard that it was knocking the limbs off the trees. According to the weather satellite it was coming down at a rate of about 4 inches an hour. Then we got high winds and I was trapped in my office for hours. It was like a bleeping war zone out there. When we moved here I had no sense of the danger posed by large trees, but now... You gain a healthy respect after about, oh, one good storm.
 

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