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BS: Lightnin' Blew Up My Tree...
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Subject: BS: Lightnin' Blew Up My Tree... From: Bobert Date: 03 Sep 13 - 07:14 PM Well, we had a monster of a storm Sunday night and come yesterday morning discovered that one of our red oaks took a direct hit and I've seen a lot of stuff but nothin' like this... Peeled the bark off the tree like a banana and distributed over a 100 foot radius... Feel bad for the tree but, hey, just seein' somethin' like this made the loss of the tree worth it... B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Lightnin' Blew Up My Tree... From: gnu Date: 03 Sep 13 - 08:52 PM Mudder Nature can tear ya a new one toot sweety, eh? Too bad ya din't get no video fer yer U Toobers. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Lightnin' Blew Up My Tree... From: Bobert Date: 03 Sep 13 - 09:02 PM Are you kidding me, gn-ze... I wouldn't have been out in that storm with or without anything metal in my hands... B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Lightnin' Blew Up My Tree... From: frogprince Date: 03 Sep 13 - 11:01 PM I've had two experiences with trees and lightning when I knew in no uncertain terms just when the lightning hit. Once over fifty years ago: my father and I were just on the porch of the farm house, on a hot clear summer day, a step from going in the door; lightning hit a big old cottonwood about a hundred yards behind us. With us right against the front of the house, the whole world was one big CRACK. Again, thirty years ago, in a shoe store in Winnetka, Illinois: the strike hit a big hollow tree in a small park just across the street. The hollow was full of rain water, and the steam explosion blew the tree all over the park like a load of dynamite. I would bet it was just that little bit short of blowing out the big front display window of the store. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Lightnin' Blew Up My Tree... From: Ebbie Date: 03 Sep 13 - 11:08 PM Flashes of lightning high in the sky I can live with. But close-by lightning is not acceptable to me. I am very aware it is electricity. That's one reason I live in southeast Alaska. :) That must have been some storm, Beaubear. Stay safe. I've been through a number of storms like that in southern Michigan and a few in the foothills of the Blue Ridge in Virginia. Never more, quoth the Raven. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Lightnin' Blew Up My Tree... From: Rapparee Date: 03 Sep 13 - 11:22 PM Around 4 p.m. MDT today an elm at the outside corner of our backyard took a hit. Fortunately the tree grounded the bolt, but it blew bark and wood off -- I haven't been out to see all the damage. A few minutes later a I saw a bolt come down and I could not count one second before the thunder sounded -- it must have been about 500 feet away. I will flat out TELL you that having a tree hit by lightning just outside your backyard is NOT the best way to awaken from a nap. I'm lucky I didn't have to change the sheets! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Lightnin' Blew Up My Tree... From: GUEST,Chongo Chimp Date: 04 Sep 13 - 12:01 AM I knew right away it hadda be yer tree, Bobertz, the moment I saw the thread title. You got a rustic style of speakin' that I can spot from ten miles away, old buddy...when it's in print, I mean. So you lost the big tree, huh? Too bad. Big trees are good to have. First off, you can climb 'em. That's what I do. Shinny up the old trunk, swing from branch to branch, clamber up to the highest bough that'll hold me...take a gooood look around the neighborhood. See if I can spot any good lookin' dames hangin' out the washing or trimmin' the hedge. Then I let out a good loud SCREEECH!!! Just to let folks know it's me up there. Sometimes I take a book up there, detective novels are good, and sit on a high branch and read for an hour or so. It saddens me to think that you will not be able to do this no longer now that the lightnin' wrecked yer oak tree. - Chongo |
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Subject: RE: BS: Lightnin' Blew Up My Tree... From: Crowhugger Date: 04 Sep 13 - 12:06 AM Cool stories but I'm glad it didn't happen to me! As kids playing in the woods one morning we happened upon most of a tree that had stood 200-300 feet from the cottage we were visiting; it lay felled beside its remaining stump as though snapped in two like a matchstick and dropped. It was a relatively clean break compared to what I read above--yes, splinters aplenty but mostly still attached either to the stump or the tree. The amazing feature to us was the charred core of the trunk. Someone's dad explained that it was almost certainly from a particularly terrifying bolt & thunder crack the night before, which had all but deafened us during a wild storm. I still remember that horrific sound, and I dare not imagine how much more intense such things must be to shatter/explode/peel the tree too! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Lightnin' Blew Up My Tree... From: Stilly River Sage Date: 04 Sep 13 - 01:00 AM I've seen trees that were hit by lightning - they usually have a big strip of bark missing down one side. I haven't seen any that exploded like that. I know you protest you don't do well with a digital camera, but I'd like to see some photos of that tree of yours if someone happens to snap a few shots of it. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Lightnin' Blew Up My Tree... From: gnu Date: 04 Sep 13 - 07:45 AM Huntin down in Albert County. Two sections of CAF modular tent for a total of 16' X 32" on a big metal frame staked to the ground with two foot metal stakes. Lightning all around and I was abunk, wide awake and looking through a plastic window, not seeing much in the pitch dark. About 80' away, lightning struck a huge dead Silver Birch. Sparks and splinetrs afire like a fire works display and the tree lit up like a match which was extiguish by torrential rain in about ten seconds. A though came to mind. Metal frame, metal stakes, half way up a big hill on a flat piece of ground in a choppin (clearcut)with few large dead hardwood trees ... hmmm. Slept, what little I could, in the truck until the storm was over. I asked the other lads in the morning about it. "Huh?" Both of them were deaf in one ear and they slept on the good ear as a matter of habit. I bought a travel trailer about two weeks later. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Lightnin' Blew Up My Tree... From: JohnInKansas Date: 04 Sep 13 - 08:37 AM gmu - When we got our big travel trailer we thought we'd have better protection from the elements while camping. Then our insurance agent informed us that we were entitled to a significant discount because our new one had "no exterior metal." (Immune to HAIL damge, but not worth squat for lightning.) But in 30+ years, with about 1800 campers in the same big campground for about a month at a time, I never heard of anyone being hit by lighning, even though thunderstorms were fairly common. Wind and falling trees took the big toll on the hardware, and the only really bad injuries were from two or three propane explosions. A good Kansas thunderstorm is better 'n a rock concert any day (IMO); and when I moved to Boston temporarily I sorta missed them. I was there for three years before there was one enormous thunderclap. All the neighbors got real excited, and were out in the street screamin' at each other. Several natives just "didn't know what had happened" - since (they said) it was the first time they'd ever heard thunder. I've seen trees that broke up both ways, with a single big branch or the bark on one side blown off, and others that looked like the whole thing exploded from the inside. The latter kind is fairly rare here, so far as I've seen, and recollection is it's mostly seen in older trees that may have hollows (wet?) inside; but I've never made a close study of the leftover kindlin' to tell why the differences happen. John |
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Subject: RE: BS: Lightnin' Blew Up My Tree... From: Bobert Date: 04 Sep 13 - 11:46 AM Yo, Magz... My neighbor took piccures with his phone and PM again with your email address and I'll have him send 'um on... The worst part about this is that when I fell the tree I'm going to have to not only thread the needle between two healthy trees but also drop the top half into my pond... I'll wait until the leaves are off the trees before felling it... B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Lightnin' Blew Up My Tree... From: ranger1 Date: 04 Sep 13 - 01:16 PM I've seen two trees blow up like that, both while working. One was a huge ash tree that when it went, sent bark over 100 feet and the bark shards stuck in the ground like javelins. I decided that the open door of the workshop might not be a safe place to be, and as I passed a filing cabinet, lightning struck the building and I got a secondary strike that jumped the 18" from the filing cabinet to my shoulder and out my feet. Other than feeling like someone had belted me in the shoulder as hard as the could and the mild tingling in my hands and feet, I was fine. The second was a huge white pine that got struck this past July 5th. The top is shredded like something you'd see in a Roadrunner cartoon, and there was bark everywhere. The two trees behind got hit in that same strike, and each is missing a strip of bark from crown to ground. We left the standing part alone, but it took two of us four hours to clean up the top half that came down. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Lightnin' Blew Up My Tree... From: ranger1 Date: 04 Sep 13 - 01:20 PM Oh, and that July 5th storm had other consequences: Operation Osprey Rescue. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Lightnin' Blew Up My Tree... From: gnu Date: 04 Sep 13 - 01:27 PM GREAT stories r1! THANKS FOR SHARING. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Lightnin' Blew Up My Tree... From: Bee-dubya-ell Date: 04 Sep 13 - 02:05 PM No lightning strikes here, but we had a storm come through yesterday afternoon that had some pretty strong winds. Knocked down an old oak near my driveway. Landed on top of my wife's car. Took out the hood and both front fenders. Looks totaled to me. What the hell? Time for a new car anyway. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Lightnin' Blew Up My Tree... From: Rapparee Date: 04 Sep 13 - 03:50 PM I just looked: the lightning blew a big gap out of the side of tree. I've called the City and asked them to send out the arborist to do an assessment. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Lightnin' Blew Up My Tree... From: gnu Date: 04 Sep 13 - 03:59 PM Ye got free arborists? Is that part of Obama's healthcare initiative? Here in tha backwoods, we fires up the bucksaw and recycles er eh? Marshmallows anyone? |
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Subject: RE: BS: Lightnin' Blew Up My Tree... From: Rapparee Date: 04 Sep 13 - 08:46 PM It's on city property (a golf course). I could get in trouble if I did it myself. Else I would. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Lightnin' Blew Up My Tree... From: GUEST,leeneia Date: 04 Sep 13 - 11:17 PM Bobert, it seems to me that every time I turn around, you are facing another dangerous, arduous job. Why art thou so unlucky? I'm glad the tree was far from the house, that's for sure. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Lightnin' Blew Up My Tree... From: JennieG Date: 05 Sep 13 - 01:46 AM Quelle bummer, Bobertz.....is what's left of the tree any use to a local woodworker? Would (oh dear, sorry) it be of use to an instrument maker, f'rinstance? |
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Subject: RE: BS: Lightnin' Blew Up My Tree... From: JohnInKansas Date: 05 Sep 13 - 03:15 AM It's on city property (a golf course). I could get in trouble ... The old golfer's joke is that when there's lightning while you're out on the course you should just hold a club over your head. But it has to be the right club. Eplanation: "Even GOD can't hit a one iron." (Not to be taken seriously.) John |
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Subject: RE: BS: Lightnin' Blew Up My Tree... From: Bobert Date: 05 Sep 13 - 08:58 AM Gennie G & leeneia, Here's the deal... Although we have lots of trees, we have had quite a bad last 13 months with them... We lost 24 last July 3rd when straight line winds blew them down... With the help of locals who burn wood I have cleaned up about 5 of them with the others awaiting Mr. Chainsaw... This one that just got blown up is one of three red oaks that were occupying a space for two and is the middle one so the Good Lord was just doing a little pruning for us... It will be a slobber knocker to fell but I have two to three months (when the leaves are off the other two) to do it... B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Lightnin' Blew Up My Tree... From: Little Hawk Date: 05 Sep 13 - 09:14 AM Chongo is busy with more important work, Bobert, but he could send down a couple of downtown Chicago Baboons to help you with the cleanup. They're always looking for casual work. They need a regular beer ration, though, or they get morose and quite dangerous, so keep that in mind. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Lightnin' Blew Up My Tree... From: sciencegeek Date: 05 Sep 13 - 09:27 AM Bobert... you might think about using some of the limb wood to grow shitake mushrooms... take some of the sting out of losing it... and using the innoculated dowels is not that hard a process. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Lightnin' Blew Up My Tree... From: GUEST,leeneia Date: 05 Sep 13 - 10:05 AM "We lost 24 last July 3rd when straight line winds blew them down... " That must have been a terrible storm! Perhaps those trees were shallow-rooted, on slopes, or too close together. I hope the loss was natural selection at work, and that your surviving tress are in better shape. If any are really hard to get at, remember that standing deadwood is good for wildlife. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Lightnin' Blew Up My Tree... From: Rapparee Date: 05 Sep 13 - 10:08 AM If you'll season it and cut it into flooring and ship it out here I'll use it. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Lightnin' Blew Up My Tree... From: Little Hawk Date: 05 Sep 13 - 12:48 PM I have an old couch you could take off my hands, Rap, but I shudder to think what it would cost to ship it to Idaho. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Lightnin' Blew Up My Tree... From: Dorothy Parshall Date: 05 Sep 13 - 01:59 PM More lightning lessons: A friend of mine once owned a property in eastern Quebec which had once been old MacDonald's farm. (FACT) Lore had that old MacDonald died with a smile on his face. He was sitting in the rocking chair in the kitchen talking with a neighbour and lighting his pipe with a metal lighter when lightning came through the open window and hit the lighter. 3 years ago I was talking with a neighbour in Montreal when"Wow, that was a close one! I had better go inside." I went inside and went to bed but started smelling something strange. When I got up and looked out, there were fire trucks everywhere. The house next door had taken that hit on a metal roof ornament (Victorian). I had to leave the door unlocked - in case - and hang out down the street while they put out the fire - The third in that building in less than ten years. It no longer has a Victorian ornament on the roof! The second floor had to be totally renovated, again. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Lightnin' Blew Up My Tree... From: Little Hawk Date: 05 Sep 13 - 02:06 PM That makes a strong argument for never using a metallic vibrator during an electrical storm... And the other thing is, I think I'll relocate the iron Dachshund statue from the peak of the roof to over by the ornamental pond in the backyard. It won't look as regal there...but safety is the first concern! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Lightnin' Blew Up My Tree... From: Bobert Date: 05 Sep 13 - 03:50 PM Ummmm, I think we'll just use it for firewood though I like the idea of growing mushrooms in the limbs and might just do it... I've seen them stacked like Lincoln logs and lots of 'shrooms growing out of 'um... Need to find a pine grove back in the woods as they love growing under pines... The 24 we lost last year were compromised by the farmer across the creek clearing about 15 acres of woods that used to act as a wind break... They are all in the woods between the house and the creek... I reckon it will take a couple more years before I have order down there but at least Mr. Kubota and I have roads down there big enough to get a truck to the wood... Thanks for the offer, Chongz... Now I'm purdy sure that I can whup up on you but baboons is some tough customers and, well, seein' as it's two of them I reckon they might get together and put a whup on me... Then I'd have to shoot them and I'd feel bad shooting a couple of yer buddies so just tell 'um, "Thanks but no thanks"... B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Lightnin' Blew Up My Tree... From: JennieG Date: 05 Sep 13 - 06:18 PM Ah well, sometimes it's an ill wind that blows no good......been hearing that for years, and I'm still trying to work out just what it really does mean.... |
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Subject: RE: BS: Lightnin' Blew Up My Tree... From: GUEST,crazy little woman Date: 06 Sep 13 - 10:22 AM The proverb is "It's an ill wind that blows NOBODY any good." In modern terms it means "It's a bad wind that doesn't do SOMEBODY some good." For example, a dry wind might be good for the florist, because it keeps fungi off roses, but it is bad for the wheat farmer because it keeps seeds from sprouting, because seeds need moist soil. A strong, cold wind might be good for a sailing ship, but bad for a beggar. But it's truly an ill wind that doesn't help anybody at all. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Lightnin' Blew Up My Tree... From: Bobert Date: 06 Sep 13 - 10:52 AM I donno about all that wind philosophy stuff... I do know that we got whacked real bad last July 3rd and didn't deserv3e it... Our farmer neighbor, in taking out a 15 acre wind break exposed our trees to wind that they would not have had to endure had the 15 acres of woods still been there... No matter... It's done and after I get it all cleaned up it will be nice down there... A lot more light, that much is for sure... Opens up some possibilities for woods gardens that didn't exist before... Like they say, "When you are dealt lemons make lemonade... B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Lightnin' Blew Up My Tree... From: JennieG Date: 06 Sep 13 - 06:12 PM That's it, Bobert - the universe is telling you to plant a whole grove of lemon trees! Just think......lemonade, lemon syrup cake (traditional recipe given to me by a Greek woman, it's very nice), lemon pie, lemon marmalade, preserved lemons (used in some Middle Eastern cooking)..... |
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Subject: RE: BS: Lightnin' Blew Up My Tree... From: Rapparee Date: 06 Sep 13 - 06:53 PM Not to mention lemons like Karmen Ghias, Pintos, Edsels, and Falcons. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Lightnin' Blew Up My Tree... From: frogprince Date: 06 Sep 13 - 07:10 PM Those were pretty good cars compared to Yugos and Chevy Vegas. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Lightnin' Blew Up My Tree... From: Bobert Date: 06 Sep 13 - 07:19 PM Grrrrrrr, Rap... I love Ghias, Falcons and Pintos... The Edsel??? I agree... B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Lightnin' Blew Up My Tree... From: ranger1 Date: 06 Sep 13 - 08:09 PM Hey! Falcons weren't lemons! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Lightnin' Blew Up My Tree... From: Rapparee Date: 06 Sep 13 - 10:36 PM How about the Gremlin, the Yaris, the Aspire, the Geo Metro, the Metropolitan, the Datsun F10, the Renault Dauphine, the Chevette, the Justy, the Dodge La Femme, the Cricket, the Aztec, the AMC Pacer, the Trabant, the Chevy Vega, the Olds Tornado, the Simca? Or did you just want to forget? |
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Subject: RE: BS: Lightnin' Blew Up My Tree... From: frogprince Date: 06 Sep 13 - 11:06 PM Hmmm; never heard the Olds Tornado included in a list like that before; did they have problems that I completely missed hearing about? |
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Subject: RE: BS: Lightnin' Blew Up My Tree... From: Rapparee Date: 06 Sep 13 - 11:30 PM My mistake. I meant the Chevy Monza. The Tornado was, well, okay. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Lightnin' Blew Up My Tree... From: Little Hawk Date: 07 Sep 13 - 12:18 AM What about the Heinkel Bubble Car? |
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Subject: RE: BS: Lightnin' Blew Up My Tree... From: Bert Date: 07 Sep 13 - 02:20 AM When I was in Alabama our next door neighbors went out on the lake in the middle of a thunderstorm on their aluminum pontoon boat with an umbrella up. As they say, God looks after drunks and fools. Here's some lyrics for ya Bobert. The Lightning Tree Lyrics The Settlers Down in the meadow where the wind blows free, in the middle of a field stands a lightning tree. It's limbs all torn from the day it was born for the tree was born in a thunderstorm. CHORUS Grow, grow, the lightning tree, it's never too late for you and me; Grow, grow, the lightning tree, never give in too easily. Down in the meadow where the wind blows light, the lightning struck in the middle of the night. Limbs stripped bare by the lightning flare the lightning flare was a wild affair. CHORUS Down in the meadow where the wind blows cold, the lightning tree stands stiff and old. Branches bent when the lightning rent the lightning rent from the firmament. CHORUS Down in the meadow with the wind in the west, the lightning tree faced up to the test. Its heart went snap when it took the rap, the terrible rap of the thunder clap. CHORUS Down in the meadow when the wind blows free, a whispering breeze in the lightning tree. Dreams come true if you want them to if you want them to, then it's up to you. CHORUS (2X) |
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Subject: RE: BS: Lightnin' Blew Up My Tree... From: JohnInKansas Date: 07 Sep 13 - 06:13 AM My mistake. I meant the Chevy Monza. The Tornado [sic] was, well, okay ... The first couple of years out, the Toronado didn't get a change in a few gaskets to allow it to use fuel additives for "cold weather starting" (i.e methane/alcohol?) that were just beginning to appear at higher concentrations in cold parts of the country. One acquaintance went through three carburetor rebuilds the first year, before someone told him what brands of gasoline not to put in it. (The brand warnings varied with location.) Once he got past that, he pretended he thought it was okay. John |
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Subject: RE: BS: Lightnin' Blew Up My Tree... From: Pete Jennings Date: 07 Sep 13 - 10:08 AM Roasted lemons go great with roast chicken. Not to mention gin & tonic with ice...'cept go easy on the roastin'. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Lightnin' Blew Up My Tree... From: gnu Date: 07 Sep 13 - 11:52 AM Toronado... four barrel... fisrt time I ever watched a gas guage move. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Lightnin' Blew Up My Tree... From: GUEST,Chongo Chimp Date: 07 Sep 13 - 01:20 PM Bobertz, I been thinkin' about yer thread title. It ain't worded quite right. Seems to me that you are betrayin' yer natural constituency by sayin' "Blew Up My Tree". Sounds like somethin' one of them intellectual artsy liberal types from Massachussets would say, and that just don't wash with yer local constituents, see? It could lose you votes! What you shoulda said is: "Lightnin' Blowed Up My Tree!" And don't ferget the ! point at the end. - Chongo |
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Subject: RE: BS: Lightnin' Blew Up My Tree... From: Bobert Date: 07 Sep 13 - 04:47 PM No matter, blowed up or blew up, the tree don't know... B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Lightnin' Blew Up My Tree... From: JennieG Date: 07 Sep 13 - 06:15 PM Right now the tree is feeling no pain..... |
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Subject: RE: BS: Lightnin' Blew Up My Tree... From: Rapparee Date: 08 Sep 13 - 12:31 AM Bobert's "blew" period. Great art! |
