What Were You Thinking?

   It was a simple request-- please pick up the branches in the loafing area-- sounds easy right? With strong dry winds in our drought stricken area, branches have been falling from the trees...some of them are massive..so, I asked my working man and farm boy if they could wrangle up some of the big ones. A simple task...or so I thought.

   The girls and I were inside cleaning up afternoon dishes and projects when....crack, thud, crash!...startled us from our work. Knowing what wind and drought stressed trees means, we bolted out the door to find...

   It seems a pine tree fell in the very area my guys were working in..and landed right across part of the stalls, also taking out the gate. Panic struck me until my husband and my farm boy came around the corner of the barn. Assessing the damage..well... it didn't hit the barn, only the outer panels of the stalls, it didn't hit the power lines or transformer pole behind the barn, it didn't wipe out the fences..and no animals or people were injured. However....

   While we were able to hand the gate back up (after some serious crow bar and hammer action), it will never be the same. So far, the herd hasn't decided they can get out over it yet...let's keep it that way. There is a whole lot more to clean up that we initially started with...I'll just say I'm not impressed with that and be done. Then, the final bit of information is.....

   It wasn't the wind. Believe it or not my husband did this, however, the tree did not do exactly what he had planned. He planned to open the gate first...to guide it past all the stalls...and to clean it up rather quickly. The tree had other plans....it fell where it wanted, smashed things at will, made a mess and broke the chainsaw in the process..therefore staying where it fell.
   Yes, this could have been worse...but I had to ask....what were you thinking?