If a tree falls in the wetlands onto a deck, will anyone hear it?


Yes.


Especially at 3am in the morning, as what happened to us early Tuesday during a freak wind storm.


The wetlands on the side and back of our property are full of scrawny dead trees. Despite their proliferation, apparently trees do not agree with wetlands. I use the term scrawny loosely. When you’re eyeball to eyeball with said felled scrawny tree, it has a way of looking not so scrawny.
I am very grateful and thankful that everyone is safe and sound and that our dogs were not outside playing when the tree fell.
I am also very grateful that the tree did not come through the sliding glass window, or break any glass or fencing. I think the obstacles it hit on the way down are large contributors to the fact that little damage was done. First, the tree hit the top of a steel fence right where the gate is, where the steel piping is the thickest. There are twin huge divots in top of the fence and gate, so the gate still actually opens and closes with no problems. From there, the tree bounced away from the house and crashed onto the deck, right onto the steps we’d put in ourselves a few years back. Had the railing still been on the deck in that spot, it is likely the tree would have hit it and broken off, sending wood shards through the sliding glass window. But that didn’t happen.

Stefan fired up the chainsaw yesterday morning while I watched. I have this thing about power tools, especially chainsaws, where I prefer to be around when they are being run. I don’t relish the thought that a kickback could happen and he could bleed out because no one was around to call for help. Fortunately for me, he humors me.
This isn’t the first tree to fall into our yard. In fact, it’s the third tree to fall, and the second one to make a homicidal plunge towards the house. We have yet to deal with the first one, however. It broke over the fence on the side a while back, and once we realized it was covered in poison oak, we erected the metal fencing to keep the dogs away from it until we figured out an attack plan. It’s ironic that the fence we put up actually saved us from this tree. I guess there’s something to be said about procrastination, after all.