The Hills Are Alive With The Sound of Chainsaws

It’s been two months since our December storm. There are many blue tarps covering damaged roofs still visible through out the community. Thousands of broken and uprooted trees are still landscape features.

I’ve written before about how noisy my area has become in the summer with all the houses that have been built out in the country and how I looked forward to the rainy days of winter when people don’t go outside. The sounds of this winter have become louder because of the storm.

The storm itself was very noisy. Oddly the sound of the three day wind was so loud that it muffled the sound of trees falling. I watched some trees fall in that storm and never heard a thing other than wind. When a tree falls on a clam day the crash and thud can normally be heard and felt at great distances, but in the storm the wind drowned out any sounds.

Now that it is over you can still hear the sounds of chain saws buzzing like nests of angry yellow jackets all over the valley. They work from dawn to dusk along with the sounds of track hoes and skidders. I myself have used over five gallons of fuel and three gallons of bar oil in my chain saw since December.

Now I’m not complaining about the noise of chainsaws. They are the sound of the pride of ownership and good stewardship. Folks out our way have been working like beavers to get their property cleaned up and somewhat back to normal.

Another part of the cleanup is what looks like a post-apocalyptic scene of smoke and fire. These are slash burns. Consider how many branches are cut off just one tree. The time and expense of even hiring a commercial chipper is for the most part out of the question; especially when you have twenty or more trees to deal with.

I am stacking slash and will let it decompose naturally. It is a good habitat for wild life, but there are two piles that will be too unsightly so I will probably burn them.

Another sad outcome of the storm is that the trees that didn’t fall around my home have been damaged to the point where they will be a constant threat so they will need to be removed as well. It will soon look like a treeless prairie around here.

It will be nice when all the clean-up is finished and our valley returns to relative quiet, but by the time that happens the air will be filled with the sounds of motor cycles, mowers and string trimmers.