This is what the inside of a dead Ash tree looks like after it is snapped in two by the wind. It fell in our front yard (missing the house by a few feet) shortly after we got back from Christmas break.
The only casualty was our chain-link fence which you can see is smooshed beneath it (click on the pic to enlarge if you can't see it.) This tree landed on the forked tree next to it which caused the fork to crack all the way down to the ground, leaving it swaying precariously over our neighbor's front yard. I was relieved to see that the little pear tree I planted last year (left corner) had survived unscathed.
Here's how it looked from the front. Doesn't seem nearly so shocking in photos, but it was scary nonetheless.
Ashlee came to the rescue with a toy chainsaw that she borrowed from the neighbor boys. She'll have it cleaned up in a jiffy!
Our neighbor from down the street, Crazy Mike (whom we named as such for various reasons), kindly spent many hours over a couple of days chopping the giant trees into smaller pieces. He really enjoyed himself and we really appreciated it. Despite all his hard work, I was able to find a tree guy to chop down the remainder of offending trees and grind out their stumps for a chunk of change, but at least we don't have to worry about being crushed to death during another wind storm.
