Gutted, and Snow joke!

I just want to share a cautionary note about the minor disaster that befell some of my trees and staging area last night. OK, it’s nowhere near as catastrophic as the events in Haiti earlier in the week but it’s still upsetting all the same and just about topped off a rubbish birthday.

At 12.40am this am and we were awoken by an almighty “crash” outside our bedroom window to be greeted with the entire length of the guttering hanging off of a BT telephone line. Dressing gown and wellies swiftly despatched for a first hand view of the carnage. At this point I’d wished I’d stayed in bed as the falling gutter* had totally destroyed 2 staging areas for my trees but unfortunately some trees were still on it/in the firing line! Panic set in as I tried to rescue my trees from the rubble but I think that I was lucky to get away with the few casualties that I had.

My Hawthorn that I had worked on at Burrs took the worse of the impact breaking, I think, 3 branches and snapping all the tension wires. The only saving grace that I could see is that as the entire tree was wired and a lot of the braches that didn’t break but bent so I hope that they can be re-position in time. My Literati Japanese Yew, that was already under the weather, was buried under construction blocks but upon removal it didn’t seem too worse for wear.

Now for the “silver lining” to my cloud. These stands are usually home to most of my Shohin (Andy & Fiona know the stands I mean) but I had been in the process of clearing them off to allow them to thaw without them getting anymore wet than they already were. In point of fact I had only moved the last of them yesterday morning!! Unfortunately the area by my back door, side passage way and outhouse now look like casualty (emergency room) on a busy Saturday night. Lots of work now to do in far from perfect conditions but at least I’ve still got my health.

On a lighter note the accident did manage to “crash test” some of Stone Monkey’s pots and although one took quite heavy impact, judging by the paint marks left on the rim of the pot, they all survived intact.
Top work master potter

Keep well bonsai friends and watch out for the hazards of the thaw,
Regards,
Simon

*Did I mention that it wasn’t the flimsy plastic type but good old 1950’s cast iron!!

Hi Simon,

Goodness.. I hope when the thaw is complete the damage can be put right quickly. Take a look around and you will see a lot of gutter damage usually caused by heavy icicles.

This is a cautionary tale and one whereby folk must be vigilant in extreme weather and placement of trees. ALL my cascade and semi cascade are wired to to the benches (mostly because of damn squirrels). I have no trees under 'eaves' of buildings and my most delicate trees are in my workshop as my greenhouse is STILL NOT INSTALLED! because of the snow

Here did lie Bonsai!!




Emergency Room(s) - standing room only!!




Sorry for some of the poor images but you get the idea

A bad birthday indeed Some of my guttering has to be repaired too. the snow melting underneath and slowly sliding down, has taken the gutter with it. Could have been a lot worse, by the sounds of it.

So not just the gutter but the down pipe Bummer Simon

Thats not funny to wake up to .

It sounds like you escaped serious carnage at least, Si. Still not a nice experience though. You have my sympathy, my friend, especially knowing what trials you have suffered previously with your trees.

In a similar vein, my workmate was awakened in the early hours of Monday by a similar crashing sound. His gutter (the heavy wooden stuff) had come down, smashing a nice hole in his porch roof on the way. Not to be outdone, his neighbours gutter had followed suit and landed across the bonnet (hood) of his wife's new Volvo. Snow eh? It may look nice, but it can be a proper b*****d when it wants!

Hi guys,
Thanks for your comments. You’re right Tony it is a bummer but you know me I don’t do things by halves - cutting off primary branches by accident, removing the only live vein on a tree, etc need I go on?
There is madness in my method regarding the silly place I put my trees. Due to family storage issues most of my sheds are now full and as the end of my garden gets so cold & ravaged by the wind this seemed a good option. We’ve never had a Winter like this since we moved to the house and the past couple of years have been accident free so I wasn’t concerned.
How did the Dr Pepper’s advert go? “What’s the worst that could happen?”

I agree, it could have been a lot worse as I could have lost my father-in-laws last remaining tree in the accident which would have gone down like a lead balloon with the wife!! I think that there are still some Accents buried in there somewhere but I’ll have a better idea when I get home tonight.

All in all it gives me an excuse to re-design my Bonsai area at the end of the garden and hopefully in time for a proposed garden party/Club workshop in the Summer when I’ve got rid of the kids. I thought that 2010 was going to be a better Bonsai year for me, after losing about half a dozen trees to an over zealous neighbour spaying disinfectant last year, but at least I have a nice Bonsai trip to look forward to next week!

Thanks again for you concerns,
Simon

Hi Simon.
Not a good start to the new year.I do like your attitude though. A good time to re design your Bonsai area.Chin up.
will be a great year !

Simon. Not sure if i've mentioned it before but, I'd love to see a picture of your Lonicera

Simon

If it is any consolation my friend, Noelanders, Bonsai, good friends, BEER! VERY STRONG BEER at that

All the best pal

Andy

The offending guttering was finally removed at the weekend and to my suprise no more casualties. The trees that were in the firing line do not seem as bad as I first thought so a very luck escape me thinks. Roll on the Spring to see if I am right,

All the best ,
Simon

Stone Monkey wrote:Simon

If it is any consolation my friend, Noelanders, Bonsai, good friends, BEER! VERY STRONG BEER at that

All the best pal

Andy

Cheers Andy, but you know that I am tea-total.