Our Mimosa Tree---What a Mess!!

We have a fairly large back yard, and we really do like it. Michael, on a weekly basis, tells me all the things we are some day going to do in our back yard and to our house, and I just let him talk and say "Yes, Dear." at the appropriate time and it seems to keep him happy. He has talked about a pool, a shed, extending the back of the back of the house, and who knows what all--like I said, I just answer at the right time and it keeps him happy. We have a HUGE mimosa tree in the back yard. In the summer when all the branches are full they actually touch the ground and it is difficult to walk out there. Gunney, our English Bull Dog, likes to go outside and grab the branches in his mouth and walk backwards with them and then let them go. In the summer we can actually get him go go outside when it rains because the tree is so big and thick that he doesn't get wet. In the fall, though, when all the leaves start to fall he can't understand why he gets wet. Michael doesn't like the tree because it is so big. Mimosas grow very fast, and this one has taken over. I think it is pretty when it blooms--it gets beautiful pink flowers on it. In fact, I was looking for a picture we took of it last year when it was in bloom and out entire back yard was pink. If I find that picture I will still post it, but I can't find it right now.

Last Tuesday I was sitting here in the den not doing much of anything. Michael's work schedule is just a little different than mine, and there is one Monday night that he works and I don't, so he had worked the night before and now on Tuesday morning he had just gone to sleep for a while. As I said, I wasn't doing much of anything, and Gunney was doing even less--sleeping too, which is one of his favorite pasttimes. All of a sudden he started barking. He does this once in a while, and sometimes when I'm here by myself and he does it and scares the heck out of me. I don't ususally tell him to stop barking though, because I figure if it is someone outside the house his bark is loud enough and sounds "mean" enought to deter someone from trying to get in my house. He doesn't usually bark for long, and most of the time when he does it is because he's looking out the window and sees a cat in the driveway--we have about three neighborhood cats who seem to like to sleep in our driveway and the next door neighbor's yard. Anyway, I didn't pay much attention to him barking, and he soon settled down and went back to sleep.

About 20 minutes later I got up to go in the kitchen and looked out the back door and could not believe my eyes. The mimosa tree was laying all over the back yard. It had not made the loud cracking noise you would think a tree this big would make, nor did it hit any part of the house or even the fence of the neighbor next door. The tree didn't fall over--the roots are still in the ground. It was like a canopy of tree just fell straight down from the tree to the ground. The following pictures aren't real clear, but it will give you some idea of how big this tree is. The funny thing is, it was raining when this happened, but there wasn't a lot of wind or anything. It was one of those quick summer showers that come up in South Carolina, where it rains for 20 minutes, then afterwards it's like walking into a sauna. But it wasn't windy or even thundering and there was no lightning. I guess the tree has some sort of disease and has rotted. But, we were really lucky it didn't hit the house. Now Michael tells me he's going to buy a chain saw and take this tree down. I've said my customary "Yes, dear" but I hope once he gets this saw home I can still say there is no damge to the house or neighbor's fence!!!!!!!

That white blur in the middle of this picture is Gunney. He just didn't know what to make of this.
And that's Gunney too.

This picture is actually on the opposite side of the yard from where the tree trunk is, so it gives some idea of the size of the three.

This is also on the opposite side of the yard from where the truck is. This is really a big tree.

This is our neighbor's fence. When we first moved in this house there was a different family in the house next door. They had two pit bulls, and we live around the corner from an elementary school. There were some kids that on the way home form school would tease these pit bulls, and one day the dogs really got upset. The house next door is on the corner, and one of the neighbors in a house on the cross street got upset. He called the animal control officer because he felt the pit bulls were going to go after the kids--but again, not that I think the dogs should be vicious or anything, the kids were teasing the dogs. At this time the only fence around either our house or theirs was a chain link fence. Well, these pit bulls could have jumped the fence with no problem had they really wanted to, so they actually were pretty good dogs. But the owner was tired of the kids constantly teasing his dogs, so he put a privacy fence up all around his yard. Notice there is a bend in the tree limb that goes over the fence. There was a huge limb in his yard but no damage done to the fence--the bend in the tree was at just the right height to not hurt the fence.

This is looking from the very back of our yard toward or house.