The Pacific Ocean is Angry
By Clint Perry
@cperry2 (5608)
Newport, Oregon
November 14, 2020 6:29pm CST
Why would it be angry? Maybe because the Atlantic has been able to spin up more Hurricanes than ever in recorded history. Maybe because, the world of man has slowed down, and it misses all the vacationers. Who knows for sure?
The past 24 hours we have been getting major wind. Average speeds between 25 to 35 with gusts upward of 60 MPH. The picture above is one part of my front yard. The tree you see is a magnolia. It was a beautiful tree and now a third of it is on the ground. That's the pile of brush in the center.
When people pay to put in fancy landscaping, someone needs to pay close attention to what is getting put in. Magnolias are not cut out for those kinds of winds. Especially when they still have a full head of leaves and it has been raining a lot of late.
I woke up to the mess yesterday morning and it has taken me until noon today to get it all cleaned up. Well, there is still a mess of leaves on the ground but the limbs have been picked up, loaded onto my truck, and taken to the dump to be turned into mulch and compost. I'll take the mower to the stuff left on the ground as soon as the rains let up. Maybe a week from now??? The forecast shows rain continuing through Friday. In the meantime, we have another night of high winds tonight. Hopefully, I'll not have another huge mess to clean.
Hope you are having a wonderful weekend!!!
9 people like this
8 responses
@LadyDuck (459212)
• Switzerland
15 Nov 20
You are so right about which trees put in your garden. I loved the magnolia in our garden, but it was too tall and the evergreen type, we had it cut because we feared it would have collapsed under the snow and damage the house. We still have a nice warm weather, it seems that this is going to be the last day.
3 people like this
@LadyDuck (459212)
• Switzerland
16 Nov 20
@cperry2 Our magnolia was placed just in front of our garden room, it was tall but with poor roots, the gardener came and checked and we had to take it down. Should it had fallen, the insurance would have not paid, because it was a dangerous tree.
2 people like this
@cperry2 (5608)
• Newport, Oregon
16 Nov 20
@LadyDuck Ah got you. There is not much risk this one will damage anything, fortunately. The first year we were here a limb came down on my neighbor's yard, I have kept that side of it trimmed ever since, Now I see that I needed to have trimmed the rest the same way. A lot of work, another reason for it to go away. Sigh, I hate killing trees.
2 people like this
@cperry2 (5608)
• Newport, Oregon
15 Nov 20
The second storm hit last night, There has been no additional damage, which is good.
I do not want to cut the tree down, but I will very likely shorten it and not let the limbs get so long anymore. If it is more compact, maybe it will be able to withstand the winds. At least I am going to try that I think.
3 people like this
@cperry2 (5608)
• Newport, Oregon
15 Nov 20
I was planning to take the tree down and replace it with something more appropriate, but the wife has nixed that idea each year while I am out there picking up the pieces, after a big wind. This year, seeing the amount of destruction in the tree, she has agreed. But for now, I think I will just top it, and see how it does next spring. I can always take it down then.
2 people like this
@kaylachan (58226)
• Daytona Beach, Florida
15 Nov 20
I wonder if any of this has to do with the client change I've been hearing a lot about as of late. Some areas of the world are experiencing stranger-than-usual weather patterns, while others its business as usual. I too hope you don't wake to another mess.
1 person likes this
@cperry2 (5608)
• Newport, Oregon
15 Nov 20
In this case, I would say this is our normal weather for winter, not anything extra. I do believe that our climate is warming and that it is affecting the weather, but the winds often get very high here. What was highly unusual for us here on the Oregon Coast this year was for us to be very dry and have forest fires within fifty miles of us That is a very scary situation as we live very near a large forest.
1 person likes this
@kaylachan (58226)
• Daytona Beach, Florida
15 Nov 20
I can imagine it would be. Before I moved down here, we had a summer like that. My husband would tell me all about it sometimes. Since I've lived here, there have been a few fires, but nothing like what he described. I don't blame you for being nervous with all the dry weather.@cperry2
1 person likes this
@cperry2 (5608)
• Newport, Oregon
15 Nov 20
@kaylachan Before we moved here, I had lived in California for nearly 30 years, When we lived in Los Angeles, we had a day where the ash falling from the sky was thick enough to cover our cars. (It looked like snowfall actually but the temps were in the 90s) We could see the fires in the hill beyond the valley where we lived. Later in Sacramento, we had to contend with orange skies that were choked with smoke. Moving up here, we thought we might have escaped it. Until this year. Sigh.
@cperry2 (5608)
• Newport, Oregon
19 Nov 20
We've had some wind and lots of rain today, with more coming.
@Tampa_girl7 (49132)
• United States
16 Nov 20
I’m sorry about your tree. Magnolias are beautiful.
2 people like this
@Tampa_girl7 (49132)
• United States
16 Nov 20
@cperry2 we have two rather large Magnolia trees. My daddy planted them years ago. They are in areas where they seem to be thriving.
2 people like this
@cperry2 (5608)
• Newport, Oregon
16 Nov 20
@Tampa_girl7 How cool. Next spring when they are flowering how about posting a photo?
@cperry2 (5608)
• Newport, Oregon
16 Nov 20
they are in the proper places. The winds here make them a messy tree spreading the big white petals all over the ground. Sigh, I used to live where they were a pleasure. This tree has been in the ground for probably fifteen to twenty years. It will be sad I indeed I have to take it down.
1 person likes this
@Namelesss (3368)
• United States
19 Nov 20
Our magnolias here are the Magnolia Americana (think I got that right). They are huge trees. I would love to have a couple but my yard is way to small, if one fell it would crush us. Stay safe and glad to see the second storm didn't cause any more damage.
1 person likes this
@VivaLaDani13 (60541)
• Perth, Australia
23 Jun 21
@cperry2 I'm so sorry about your tree. It's a shame what strong winds can damage. 
