I forgot to tell you, a 60 year-old here died when he fell from a ladder while trimming a tree with a chain saw. The chain saw cut his head plus he had internal injuries - so be careful if you decided to be proactive and trim your trees before the limbs fall on you.

Same as you, I had a big branch fall off a 42 year old maple tree for no apparent reason, no wind or rain. I had the tree cut down last Friday and found it had a big split near the top. If it had split all the way, one branch would have landed on my neighbor's deck and the other branch would have taken out my other neighbor's fence. Carpenter ants were involved in my tree too. Are these ants unionized?

You dodged a bullet. As for carpenter ants, I was told that if you see any in your house, you should quick have a termite inspection. They send "scout" ants on ahead to find houses with wet timber which also indicates termites are not far away. I saw one once and killed it right away. Shortly after, we replaced our roof and I thin that solved that problem. Meanwhile, back at the carpenter ant wikiup, Maury asked Adele where Stanley was and she said, "Well, he didn't come back ... do you think ???)

My old neighborhood had tons of willow trees so I love them. In the middle of the night a 30 or 40 ft one a few houses down fell over just like yours, without warning. I bet it had something to do with carpenter ants, too, because our area had a problem with them.

Okay,keep us informed.

wow!

Randy,
Your luck is in need of some rebuilding?? Too close for me, as I had a similar tree limb, HUGE, fall 2 inches from Ayla's bedroom when she still lived at home. It is a 100+ yo oak tree and provides so much shade I have yet to use my AC in the house all summer. So the the tree wins, same thing it was HOLLOW, but woke about 7 of us up in the neighborhood!!

Now my good luck story....last Saturday after having a wonderful time camping in Downeyville, 5,000+ elevation we headed off on our bicycles for a lovely ride in the mountains. I still do not really know what happened but I fell to the left of the white line instead of to the right of it, and as Parker watched in shear horror a truck nearly ran me over!!!!!

I broke my fall with my left shoulder, thankfully nothing broken, but I am pretty beat up and have many months of healing and PT ahead of me. I'M ALIVE!!!!! The traumatic experience really made both of us reevaluate our lives together!! He'll be 47 in Nov. I'll be 50 in April. So relocating to the beautiful 40 acre ranch is going to be happening much sooner than we planned.

I have been pistol whipped and had loaded guns pointed at me in my past life....yet I never felt this close to death!!! It happened in a blink of an eye!! The only thing I remember feeling was intense pain and smelling the hot hwy. pavement that I hit, plus exhaust and the noise of the truck...then it was like I was a "Jill in the box" and popped back up at the last possible second!! Parker was also traumatized watching in slow motion as he jumped off his bike, remember he is 6'6" tall!!

It just wasn't my time to die last Saturday...so try to smile and laugh as much as you can DAILY Randy, that is why I wrote all of this to you, we never know when we are going to check out!! I plan on living another 50 years....I am so happy to know the tree Lost and you Won with your life!!
much love and laughter sent your way Mr. Smith!!!!

We're all glad you got out of the way. Now, figure out what you would have been sorry you didn't get around to doing, and get it done.

What is wrong with mybloggers?

That is weird.Glad that you are safe.Carpenter ants?not good si?

The message is you better stop complaining or the next time the branch will hit!
Okay I'll admit I am glad it missed--I would miss your moaning and groaning every day which makes my life seem that much better!

Wow! Glad you moved in time.Good reflexes!

Holy cow~~~ Glad you still have your hearing!!!

Yikes! So glad you got out of the way — celebrating your senses and reflexes! Now I'm wondering what willow tree limb those carpenter ants will choose for their next home. I'm imagining them all scrambling right back up the tree to start all over again....