the destruction from an early winter storm

Last night we really got snowed on.  We got more snow than what we had all last winter - combined!  But, my poor big tree in the backyard was not ready.  It hadn't dropped many leaves yet, so today we have begun the huge task of disaster clean-up.

Here's a before pic of the tree over the house, taken about a month ago:

 
Here's my poor tree tonight:

We really had a lot of snow:

And in the backyard, the tree took it all.  This morning, we couldn't get back to the chicken coop:

Here's the beginning of the pile from this morning and you can see some of the low hanging broken branches.

Here's the pile when we quit this evening - branches three feet high, going from under the covered patio to the tree, plus some huge ones from the tree to the playhouse.  My backyard is basically solid branches.  UGH.

Here's a shot looking up.  It's pretty bare up there now.  And there's at least one more big branch to come down (center back of pic). It is split in two places.

Thursday, as we were cleaning up the yard in preparation for the coming storm, I told Beorn how much I dislike seeing my yard in that state.  I find the final death throes of fall very discouraging.  It makes me feel like nothing I have done all year has made any difference, because it all looks so bad, so dead.  I tried hard to remember how good it looked just a few weeks ago and how far it had all come in the last couple years.  I think I managed to leave the yard, that night, feeling pretty good about it.  Now, I'm back to feeling discouraged.  :(

So, if anyone wants branches for their own playhouse, speak now.  Monday we will start chain-sawing the mess into manageable sized pieces and towing it away.