Knock down my trees another day Yes, my truck was parked there beforehand. No, it didn't hit it, but it was only a few inches off. Gonna chop me down a pear tree as soon as the weather clears. It lost a good third of the trunk in the spring when this same thing happened on the other side, and so it has to go.
Rain shouldn't destroy your trees, did you have high winds? Or did the water get down between the trunks and rot it?
A friend of mine called me on his way to Houston a few hours ago. He got a few miles from I-10 and I-10 was closed off. 4' of water. Not even semi trucks were allowed. Someone in the background, came clanking by. He said, "did you hear that?" I said "yea." "What was that?" he asked. "Sounds like he went through water, hydrolocked the engine and busted a rod." Yup, that's just what it sounded like.
It's an older Bradford pear, and they are notorious for being unstable when they get big. They're not all that strong, and the dense leaves grab a lot of water. Too much rain == branches being pulled downward/outward, and eventually it breaks. I don't think we had high winds, as no other trees were affected. Check out the other branches in the photo and you can see they're drooping too. We lost a good third of the tree last spring to the same thing, it's on the other side where you can't see it.
Looks like a Bradford Pear tree, which equates to a brittle & weak trunk. Too bad, looks like the leaves were just starting to turn beautiful shades of red & green.
At the W. TX ranch I was hunting a couple of weekends ago, near Paducah, they got 7.5" of rain for all of 2003. They are at 30" 2004 YTD. Crazy.
I bet I have 10 messages on voice mail tomorrow morning from people who wrecked their cars during the storm today. Jano, are you set up as a preferred shop w/ Farmers? I could probably throw some bizness your way.
Jano - I'll look into having someone visit the shop to discuss the program, if you want me to. Just let me know. Will - I'd be interested in hearing more about your difficulties. If you feel that strongly there's bound to be a story. If you want to tell it to an interested party. If you'd rather not relive it, I can understand that too. That said, regardless of the company (Allstate, State Farm, Farmers, whoever,) your agent is your advocate. When you have trouble with adjustors, etc., don't waste energy on them. If your agent is worth his salt, he'll get to the bottom of it.
