Aftermath of Storm Sandy

We were quite lucky this year--only lost power for 2 days during Storm Sandy and cable TV/internet for 4 days!  The winds were pretty scary, but the only major damage on our property was the loss of some branches on the maple tree closest to the deck.

Mark has been tempted to cut down this tree because it shades the greenhouse for 3 weeks in October when the sun is low in the sky, but I always convince him that it has such a beautiful shape and colorful foliage that we should keep it. And it no longer shades the greenhouse once the leaves fall, so it's a short-term problem. This maple is on the left behind Mark in the photo, but the wind blew the branches quite far as they fell.

The damage is quite extensive, and the 2 branches forming a V are at the very top of the tree. The trunk looks quite weak now and I'm not sure if the next big storm will break the top.

Compared to New York and New Jersey, we were lucky this time. The storm had strong wind gusts but we got less than 2 inches of rain in our area.