OT: a tree fell next to our house last night (B4 and after pics)
SYRACUSIAN
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We live in a single storey « bungalow » on the back of a 3 floor building and there’s a pool also, reserved for us and the occupant of the ground floor, a basketball player, head of Panathinaicos, a great Athens team that had Dominique Wilkins (on his way down) and Antonio Davis of the Raptors (on his way up, before Toronto) among MANY others in its ranks, with 6 European championships . Last night there was heavy rain and this is what my daughter who was ready to go to school showed me and I imaged it before and after I drove her.
Shooting my neighbor’s facade and the building above it and to the left you can see the edge of our bungalow with my daughter’s room , stuck to the building and the kitchen with the small window.
View from our « bungalow ». We should clean it and use it as a winter bridge over the pool, it couldn’t have fallen more precisely than if the best crew had had it done on purpose.
Feels like fitting with the surroundings hein? That’s why I think I’ll clean the leaves and let a natural bridge over the pool, which we either keep for a few months, or we call a crane to get rid of. Decisions, decisions.....
It’s a decision between my neighbor and me.
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Ηalf past 11 am here. My neighbor saw it ,but he has to fly to France to lead Panathinaicos against AS Villeurbanne tonight, then in three days he’ll be playing BC Barcelona, in Barcelona, led by Panathinaicos ex leader and my neighbor’s friend and.key basketball player Nick Kalathes a Greek American who was playing for Florida I think,and did very well at US college basketbal, with the Gators, a decent scorer and first in assists in all of Euroleague, ,who didn’t manage to learn 3 words of Greek during his almost 6 years stay in Athens.
I didn’t think that (my neighbor), Yannis P. (and key player of Greece’s national basketball team) will come to Athens in between, I think that staying in Villeurbanne, or going early to Barcelona will be good for them all, two games straight away from home, to get accustomed to the much colder temperatures in Villeurbanne and Barcelona than the 24C degrees or 75F that we currently have, in northern Athens.
But then again the games are in inside courts, virtually empty because of COVID. And man, COVID has a horrible resurgence in France and Spain, especially Catalonia where Barca is, whereas tiny Greece has kept its total COVID deaths barely over 310 since the pandemic started in a country of 11 million people.
myEbay
DPOTD 3
One last one, before I leave, I’ve been up since 6:00 am today, as usual, doing everything I can from home, and only going out if absolutely necessary. My 10 year old daughter wears a mask every day in school, from 8:00 am to 14:30 am that I pick her up, because lunch at school was stopped because of Covid.
Yesterday I had to go to so many places after driving her to school and bringing her back, but today it is much cooler. But I gotta go to a dreadful bank, to which I usually never set foot in, ebanking and ATMs with mask the latter only have replaced bank branches for me. Still, today I gotta go for an affair inside the damn branch.
myEbay
DPOTD 3
You could use it sorta like a water volleyball net!
Stay safe and healthy, Dimitri. This, too, shall pass.
8 Reales Madness Collection
What a headache! Be thankful it didn't come crashing down on the house or anyone
Hello Dimitri
In Canada we have and use STIHL chain saws when a problem like this occurs..... lots of fire wood....or call a tree-guy. Cranes are only used when the tree is huge-huge. No temps like you have right now!! you are lucky that way.
In my case, I have about 25 large, and I mean huge Douglas Fir and red cedar trees , very huge and tall. Trust me, these "chat with each other" at night when a storm is on. And our homes are the typical wood construction and old...
we had an 8 0KMH storm last night and I still have power (0700 Vancouver time). weather report says it will continue all day...on the east coast of Vancouver Island. Ferries are canceled and the chop and white caps are on the water are about 2-4 feet hitting the shore outside my lawn.
I don’t think that my neighbor, a basketball player who has even installed a hoop at the end as can be seen from the pictures will appreciate that!
I understand and this is what I intend to do tomorrow, thanks for the tips. Chain saw, cut it in pieces and out for the borough to pick it up. But reading your post, I realize how serious the situation is in Canada (where btw? Near Toronto, near Vancouver, cause I doubt that you live in or near Quebec. And are these « huge red cedar trees’ chats with each other » a recent phenomenon, or was it always like this? If the first, maybe climate change has got something to do with it?
myEbay
DPOTD 3
Thank you,
Dimitri, when we have any kind of wind from either direction, our trees always "chat with each other".
it often becomes scary at night, in bed when storms come up. one never knows what the trees are saying.
some are well over 150 years old and about 100+ feet high. big and thick at the bottom. their roots are not deep and that is the concern. I am on Vancouver Island, in British Columbia, just 10KM south of Courtenay. next airport is
C-YQQ (comox, BC) about 25 minutes to drive.
will send you a few images next few days if you are interested.
Be careful with a chain saw.... they are very voracious and can do a lot of damage to people.
Am in the process organizing my Canadian coins (have just about no others) all denominations from 1858 to 1967.
Had no idea how many large cents came out of these boxes....
Have a great day
H
You had mentioned Vancouver in your first post, sorry that I missed it.
Re STIHL chain saws etc, I have already arranged for the branch of the tree to be removed , as well as for cutting a good part of the 60ft tree, notably all of its branches that in a similar storm, might cause any damage of this kind. No damage at all really, by pure luck. In this one, the wind was coming from the South. If a stronger wind from the North arrives, the building in front won’t be enough to stop it and ALL of these huge branches could fall into my neighbor’s garden, our REAL neighbor in the house next door, a lovely old lady, a widow now and a very polite woman and friend of my mother.
I won’t be doing the work myself, I’m just living in the little house behind the building and I’m the manager of said building. In 3 hours from now I’ll be driving my daughter to school and by 8:30 am local,(in 4 hours) I have an appointment with the guy who will do both jobs (with the tree climbing part being the most important), at a fixed price of €300 for both jobs including cleaning this mess up. Back to bed.🥱😴
myEbay
DPOTD 3
Holy cow! That looks crazy! Glad it landed away from any actual people and structures.
There’s a video , preferably to watch and hear with full sound , with the chain saws, but I don’t know how to upload it.
Done and done. Spic and span!
The wood was so rotten that it was unfit for firewood, these trees do not exceed 55-65 years old and this one is already a senior tree at 45 years old. My father planted it when he built the building, while I was barely out of diapers. During the military junta in Greece too!
Speaking of which, the trial of the ex neo Nazi party « Golden Dawn » who managed to enter the (sacred) parliament based on their racist, anti immigrant and populist rhetoric, was found guilty as a criminal organization, one member of them will serve life in prison, and there were about 136 people who were convicted!
Get a look at the face of their leader on his way to spend 12 years in prison (which I personally find very little)
myEbay
DPOTD 3
Dimitri,
He apparently still wears his gold rolex.....and tailored suit.
😂😂😂😎😎
myEbay
DPOTD 3
Early this morning, under light rain,but still very warm for the season at 75F degrees (24C).
My neighbor came last night after a couple of back to back away from home games. AS Villeurbanne had some trouble with its main players and they would play with their 17-18 years old team, but we agreed to postpone the game, a victory away that was crucial for the next game and the season.
Then the team goes to Barcelona, the game is tied after three free throws at the end, but my neighbor is out having completed 5 fouls. So we lose the OT, despite some space coming three pointers of ours.
But he found the place spic and span! And he forgot his outside lights on. 😊
myEbay
DPOTD 3
Here is picture of an ancient roman basketball coin (dribbling to the hoop). Maybe your neighbor will like it
(Somebody else posted this on one of the forums, but I forgot who it was and apologize for not giving them credit for the coin and joke)