After the Storm

I had been waking up early every morning since the family reunion, but this morning the hubby woke me a half hour later than I had been waking to say that a storm was moving in. On the news I heard that 72mph winds had been clocked north of us and were coming our way so I stepped out on the front porch and pulled my potted plants back to the house where they could get some protection. Then the winds came and after they blew through this is what I found...
I had been saying that this particular tree needed to be cut down, it hadn't been looking so good. Only recently had it sprouted any green leaves...
I'm just glad that the wind that took it down blew it the direction that it did or it could've done damage to my car or my shed & house. The neighbor's fence has been in bad shape for a while. Just last week I had driven a short metal fence post in to support the post that is down in the photo below. I haven't been out to see what became of the metal post, whether it's bent or just laid over in the water soaked ground.
This flattened spot in my Day Lilies is where my Aloe plant and chairs ended up. I wasn't able to get the Aloe to safety before the storm and the chairs were suppose to be bungee'd to the metal post.
After the first round blew through the clouds looked soft and bumpy....
...later they got to looking a little more scrambled.

Is there and angry face in the clouds below?
I think the next one looks rather ominous, like there's a reptilian eye peering out.
But as every cloud is said to have a silver lining there is good to be found after storms if only you look for it. These tiny yellow flowers had their first bloom of the season after the storm.
Anita, the trees fared well in all the wind and rain!

My son brought over his chain saw, he had to go to work, but couldn't get it started. Now that the sun has come out and everything has calmed down I guess I'll go give it a try. Really hate to think of having to cut up the tree with a tree saw and axe, though I've done it before. Needs to get done one way or another. Looks like I'm going to have plenty of wood for the fire pit!

Honey Locus

My next door neighbor calls these trees 'weeds' and really hates them. I can't say I really blame them. The problem with Honey Locus is that they are root starters. They send out long tough roots and new trees pop up everywhere. But in the springtime when they bloom, they're gorgeous.
I wish I had someway to put a "scratch 'n sniff" on my blog, because the Honey Locus also has the sweetest smell, too. They don't stay in bloom very long either.
The Honey Locus also has thorns like a rose bush. Enlarge the picture below and you can see thorns on the branches where they branch out. It was because of these thorns that I planted the Honey Locus in my yard. I had attempted several times to get other types of trees to grow, but I had a lot of children (mine & neighbors) that spent many hours playing in my yard. I tried fences and barriers of all sorts, but my saplings kept getting run over and dying. A friend that lives on the river said that I could come dig up some Honey Locus and give them a try. I planted six and two survived. The kids seemed to be more cautious about running over these trees for some reason.
The only other problem with these trees is that they have a tendency to be a bit brittle. They suck up the water in the ground like crazy, which is why they are usually found close to bodies of water.
I've got my maple trees growing good and strong, I probably should cut down the Honey Locus, but I would REALLY miss the fragrant flowers in the springtime.