Hurricane Frances cleanup and BX23 action pics

[aardvark]

Well, I'm back on the internet (almost) since I have internet access at work, but still don't have any access at home. I've been working on the yard alot, and have put about 16 hours on the BX23 since I took delivery on Thursday, 11 days ago. I took a bunch of pics, but the batteries in my camera went dead after a while, and I never charged them because I had no power until a few days ago. Here are some links to pics for anyone who may be interested, as well as some description of each pic.

To start off, just some pics of the BX23. The first two show it resting during cleanup action, and the last two are it squeezed into the garage with all my other junk, and my old race car chassis. I'm waiting for the new owner of the race car chassis to come pick it up, as he's already paid me for it. After that, the BX23 gets the whole garage to itself.
http://bellsouthpwp.net/j/r/jrude/frances/bx23-1.jpg
http://bellsouthpwp.net/j/r/jrude/frances/bx23-1.jpg
http://bellsouthpwp.net/j/r/jrude/frances/bx-garage.jpg
http://bellsouthpwp.net/j/r/jrude/frances/garage.jpg

An Avocado tree fell and hit the edge of my roof. Here is the pile of branches I cut from the top of the Avacado tree while standing on my roof. Removal of the tree was slow and tedious because I was working alone, and didn't want to get impatient and screw up more shingles than what was already damaged.
http://bellsouthpwp.net/j/r/jrude/frances/avacado_pile.jpg

Here is the Avocado tree that fell and hit the roof. It didn't really do any damage to the wood, which was lucky. It bent up the flashing a little, and wrecked about 16 shingles, but no real catastrophic damage. I replaced the shingles and tarred the spots I thought were suspect. I think it will be OK, but time will tell. The first pic is what's left of it leaning against the house, and then the other three are the tree being pulled away from the roof using a come-along and some 10k lb trailer straps.
http://bellsouthpwp.net/j/r/jrude/frances/avacado_roof.jpg
http://bellsouthpwp.net/j/r/jrude/frances/avacado2.jpg
http://bellsouthpwp.net/j/r/jrude/frances/avacado3.jpg
http://bellsouthpwp.net/j/r/jrude/frances/avacado1.jpg

Pic of damaged flashing. The flashing was still sealed to the tar paper pretty well, so I left it rather than replace it and potentially create more damage/work. I think the roof need to be replaced within the next few years, so I'm not real worried about the flashing too much.
http://bellsouthpwp.net/j/r/jrude/frances/flashing.jpg

The roots on the avocado tree were digging in while pulling the tree trunk off the roof, so I excavated under the roots a little each time the cable tension in the come along got real high. Excavating the root ball helped alot in reducing the effort to pull the trunk over and away from the house.
http://bellsouthpwp.net/j/r/jrude/frances/hoe1.jpg
http://bellsouthpwp.net/j/r/jrude/frances/hoe2.jpg

Now, the more I do on this house, the more I realize the previous owner did everything really half-baked. He (or someone) planted the Avocado tree right on top of the well line, so when it fell it broke the well line. When I moved in to the place, the previous owner pointed out the well was marked by two concrete blocks he had buried flush to the ground. Well, those concrete blocks are nowhere near where the well actually is, as it ran under the avocado tree about 30 feet away. Also, me excavating with the backhoe didn't help the well situation at all, and I never figured that out until after the stump was removed. I saw the hoe hit PVC pipe, and the pipe was actually out of the ground before I started excavating, but I assumed it was the non-functional sprinkler system, and I was wrong. The pics are after the well was repaired.
http://bellsouthpwp.net/j/r/jrude/frances/well1.jpg
http://bellsouthpwp.net/j/r/jrude/frances/well2.jpg

This pic shows the OTHER tree that was planted right on top of the well line. Oh boy, I can't wait until this tree falls in the next hurricane. I can do this all over again.
http://bellsouthpwp.net/j/r/jrude/frances/idiots.jpg

Here are the two piles of debris removed from the yard so far. The big pile is about 35 feet long, 7 or 8 feet high, and about 12 feet deep.
http://bellsouthpwp.net/j/r/jrude/frances/pile1.jpg
http://bellsouthpwp.net/j/r/jrude/frances/pile2.jpg

The small pile is about 15 feet long, 4 feet high and five feet deep. I'm only about half done removing debris from the yard though.
http://bellsouthpwp.net/j/r/jrude/frances/pile_small1.jpg

Here's most of what's left to be removed from the yard. There is a large pine that fell and landed near a palm. The ground was flooded in this area when my neighbor's pond overflowed. The pine is a goner, but I'm hoping I can prop the palm back up and save it.
http://bellsouthpwp.net/j/r/jrude/frances/pine-palm.jpg
http://bellsouthpwp.net/j/r/jrude/frances/pine-palm2.jpg
http://bellsouthpwp.net/j/r/jrude/frances/pine-palm3.jpg

A Poinsettia tree was snapped about four feet up from ground level. There were two more Poinsettias in the front that snapped as well in a similar fashion, but I didn't take pics of the broken trucks. Maybe I'll take some pics when I remove the stumps.
http://bellsouthpwp.net/j/r/jrude/frances/poinsetta.jpg

A couple Sea Grape trees came down and one of them fell right on top of one of the lemon trees. The lemon tree split in two places relatively high off the ground. I'm really hoping I can fix the lemon tree somehow. I'm afraid if I cut the broken limb from the lemon tree it will die. I'd like to try strapping the breaks back together and see if it will heal itself. I really don't know what I should do with this one though, I don't want to lose it, but at this point it's more of a lemon "stick" than a lemon tree.
http://bellsouthpwp.net/j/r/jrude/frances/lemon_split.jpg

Other misc branches to pick up around the yard:
http://bellsouthpwp.net/j/r/jrude/frances/pine_branches.jpg
http://bellsouthpwp.net/j/r/jrude/frances/brush.jpg

I'd be in big trouble without these. The chainsaw and the tractor. The BX23 backhoe platform seems as if it was designed to specifically carry a chainsaw when the backhoe is not in use.
http://bellsouthpwp.net/j/r/jrude/frances/chainsaw_platform.jpg

 

[OkeeDon]

Hey, Jared, sounds like you got your tractor just in time. We're right up the road from you in Port St. Lucie, and BradK is even closer to you in Palm City. I imagine all our places look the same, except that our current house is "city" rather than country. I haven't been out to see our 5 acres in Okeechobee, yet -- my son-in-law tells me it's pretty flooded.

In our case, it was a Mango tree that went down and broke the water line, so that must be a fairly common thing -- worse when you're not expecting it, of course.

Good luck getting dug out and cleaned out. Has your insurance adjuster been there yet? Ours (from Nationwide) was here a couple of days ago, and sounded pretty generous. We'll have to wait a few days to see his estimate and then we'll find out if he was really generous or if he was talking through his hat. I think the reason he wants to be generous is to help us with the new 2% deductible (for those of you from outside Florida, our deductible for wind loss is 2% of the value of the property as set in the policy -- if you have a $200K house, the deductible is $4K).

 

[KiotiJohn]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( I think the reason he wants to be generous is to help us with the new 2% deductible (for those of you from outside Florida, our deductible for wind loss is 2% of the value of the property as set in the policy -- if you have a $200K house, the deductible is $4K). )</font>
A local friend of mine said he has to pay the first $4K plus 2% on his $500K home. His premiums would rival some incomes! John

 

[aardvark]

Hey Don, no I'm not planning on putting in a claim. The only losses I'm disappointed with are the avocado tree and lemon tree. The rest of the trees were on the list to be removed anyway. I have a yard which is so overgrown it's unusable, and I had planned on removing alot of what came down anyway. I have only about $300 in out of pocket cash expenses for repairs to the roof and well line. My deductible is $4200 based on the $210k insurance policy. Also, in Palm Beach Co, our insurance options aren't nearly as good as your options up in St Lucie. None of the big reputable insurance companies such as State Farm, or Allstate, or Nationwide, will write policies down here, because of the claims that happened with Andrew 15 years ago. Our only insurance options are Citizens, and the small, not so reputable insurance companies. The ones that file bankruptcy and go out of business after the claims get to a couple million dollars. I wish I could buy good insurance down here.