Good rain, bad break

It's nearly 7 p.m., and we're still getting rain from Tropical Storm Hermine (probably 4+ inches of rain so far). Which is good. Real good. However, when I looked out a front window this afternoon, this is what I saw....


...a bad break. A huge limb had broken off and fallen onto our garden beds. It was a very sad sight, like losing a piece of a dear friend. Right away, I e-mailed our county biologist with the Texas Forest Service, asking about whether we'd need to worry about painting the wound (a preventative measure against oak wilt).

Right away, Robert Edmonson responded: "Are you planning on sawing off the broken part and making a proper pruning cut? If so, paint it then. If not, I wouldn’t worry too much about it. It is best to paint all wounds; however, this time of year is the least likely to get oak wilt introduced into the tree via spore-carrying sap beetle."

That made us feel better. Because the break is WAY up in the tree. It'd be hard to find someone who help us get up there and get the cut painted.

When the rains let up some after supper, James ventured outside with his camera and got these photos. The picture below shows the INSIDE of the limb that fell. It was hollow and evidently a long-time squirrel den (complete with bathroom).