I had JUST filled my tank to the very brim with WILDLY underpriced gas when

[tommy_no_ice]

that sucks bud, but how about some tree facts??

Judging by its cone shape and blue-green foliage, I'd wager it's a Norway Spruce (Picea abies), native to Eurasia and commonly cultivated in the northeastern US landscape.

I've actually been sitting here for awhile trying to determine if it was a Blue Spruce (Picea pungens) or a Norway Spruce. The former because Blue Spruce are also common in the northeastern landscape, although they truly belong to the mountainous Colorado-Utah-Wyoming region, where they love to cling to rocky slopes and like the more arid side of things. With regard to that, I've seen so many Blue Spruces fail in the northeast. They hate the wet seasons and often get too stressed to live a full life. They'll get huge, and then heave up from the ground after long storms.

However, the cone shape is more likely attributable to the Norway, a little longer and a little more slender. Blue Spruces can eventually become green like that if under stress, but the needles aren't as thickly distributed.


Now, Norway Spruce don't pretend to like the water too much, either. They can do fine if the water is properly dispersed, but in grassy landscapes like this, it's not the case. They like to be surrounded by their homies. Although, the way it broke at the base like that can leave much to be investigated, and I can't tell much from what I see. It could be a mix of root rot from heavy water over a long period of time, sustained storms, and leverage from the winds.

[Karel]

thx y'all lol

tfw the base of that tree is like 40ft+ away from anything significant and it had a FULL 360 DEGREES it could have fallen in and of course it just so happened to land in the comparatively tiny region where the cars and i stood

Trees often only shoot out two to three major lateral roots (that big surface root you see in your 6th picture that crawls along the grass the left). I think I see another toward the base of the trunk that miraculously stayed standing, which might help explain why it broke off the way it did.

The rest are smaller roots or fine hairs. Winds and storms mostly will go in the same direction in certain regions. With that and the lack of big roots on that side, I'd say it makes sense the tree landed where it did

[Karel]

saved


but also people who identify a tree just by its wood grain are fucking crazy, i think most wood workers don't go as far as saying a general family or genus name unless they cut the wood themselves. And at that, they only care about the character of the grain (curly, spalted, etc.)

[Kalahari Inkantation]

so i had to go back to using the old minivan after this

and then in late june as i was driving home some fukken dude decided to spontaneously switch lanes with his eyes closed





he actually hit me with enough force to drive me uncontrollably into the highway's OPPOSING LANE

i'm incredibly lucky i somehow, yet again, came out unscathed, once again that could have been FAR worse lol

also fortunate was that both the other driver and insurance agreed that he was completely at fault and we might end up with a payout higher than that van's worth (RIP 2005-2020 )

Aaand that makes two vehicles totaled in a span of two months.

we hadn't replaced the lexus yet so my dad and brother and i were all sharing the one remaining functional vehicle for a bit, which was a gargantuan pain in the arse

[ME##]

tec... you have to be the most absolutely cursed person on the planet when it comes to automobile ownership

[Hiro]

jesus fucking christ tec I'm so sorry

[silvertone]

how tf did a tree fall on ur car. thats insane

[Karel]

that's wild, glad you're ok

[C.Mongler]

damn bro u r banned from cars now

[me003]

jeez tec. Sorry to hear you are having car troubles

[Kalahari Inkantation]

thxguyslol

also the insurance payout for the minivan was over $28oo

it was a 15yr old rickety rust bucket that had been struggling to start and whose air conditioning had borked

we'd long been meaning to replace with something more reliable, thinking we'd be lucky to get as much as even $800 from its sale

i guess it's a bit of a silver lining that this accident yielded us over 3x as much lol

[Kalahari Inkantation]

and speaking of silver linings, here's what we've ended up replacing both vehicles with:




two more lexuses lol

2010 rx 350 and 2009 es 350

the sedan is """mine""", i'm still reeling from the $1000 down payment i made on it a few weeks ago, let alone the $300+/mo of financing

[Kalahari Inkantation]

how tf did a tree fall on ur car. thats insane

absurdly windy storm (like 70mph+) out of nowhere back in april

after that tree fell it was clear that it had been dying from the inside out and was only barely supporting itself, the wind finally did it (and my car and very nearly me) in

tec... you have to be the most absolutely cursed person on the planet when it comes to automobile ownership

As further credence to your observation: the very next day, while I was borrowing my brother's car (which btw just so happens to be the very same model that destroyed the minivan ), the spark plug exploded.

Thankfully that one was salvageable. But now that they've all been replaced or repaired, I pray this trend doesn't continue.

[The Hand That Fisted Everyone]

did you get your gas back?

[Kalahari Inkantation]

did you get your gas back?

each of those new used cars came with about half a tank so i suppose so lol

tec why are you so cursed

honestly given that either of these incidents could have easily left me dead or worse, in some odd way i've been incredibly lucky lol