Wednesday, March 10, 2010

If a tree falls in the forest and no one is around to hear it does it make a sound?

I neglected to tell my blog friends part of my tale the other day...


The other day I took a walk with the cat, Jack, and found an old deer antler on the ground.  It was such a nice, peaceful, quiet walk, until...
 
Out of nowhere, a tree fell down in the woods near us!  It didn't exactly just "fall down", either - there was an awful loud, ripping, shredding, tearing noise.  Jack the cat was terrified and tried to take off running, luckily he was on a leash or he would have run until he was lost.  He was flipping and jumping around- I had to scoop him up and hold onto him to calm him. The noise of a tree crashing down- the noise of ripping, shredding wood, is one of the scariest noises I've heard in the woods.  The tree crashed loudly into other trees.  I stood still with Jack in my arms until the noise ended.  Then I put Jack back in the house & went back to investigate.
 
 


I found what I believe is an oak tree - broken down. It appeared to have a hollow spot near the base which somehow made it fall. It was a good solid tree, I was surprised it came crashing down.

We'll have to cut it up for firewood when we have time.






 
The funniest thing is that this is not the first time I was out in the woods with the cat when I heard a tree fall down.  Last August I experienced a very similar situation, except this time it was much louder, much closer, and it was a bigger, stronger tree.
 
I hope next time a tree falls down near me it's not any closer! 









So, to answer the age long question...
What do you think?

I believe the answer is YES.  I will never forget that sound, and I think it would have sounded just as bad if I wasn't there!

10 comments:

Robin said...

Haha, I was thinking that this must have been a little deja vu for you. I can't believe that you have had this happen twice now. Pretty neat though. Just as long as the next one doesn't try and fall on your head.

Country Girl said...

I remember as a kid on the farm, a tree right next to our house went down. A great big fat tree. I don't know what kind or why it came down (it was pretty old and held our tire swing.)It sounded like a train going by! An old steam engine!It was really loud! Happily it didn't fall towards the house- it would have hit my bedroom which was right next to it. It fell over and part of it landed on the fence around Nana's pool! After that, a willow tree next to the pool started sending it's roots over and tried to get into the pool! What a mess!

DayPhoto said...

If experience is anything...then the answer is YES!

It's good you weren't hurt, either by the tree of Jack the cat.

Linda
http://coloradofarmlife.wordpress.com

Toni aka irishlas said...

I can understand why the cat freaked out! That's a pretty big tree.
And yes, I believe it still makes a sound..
Glad everyone is okay!

AJ-OAKS said...

Wow, that must have been amazing! And it's happened twice to you! That was one big tree. Poor Jack getting scared like that. On the bright side, look at all that firewood you get now! :)

jalynn01 said...

Falling trees make a really loud noise and yes! even if no one is around I believe it's still just as loud. A tree fell on my house a few years ago.. I was at work but my adult son was there. He called me and said it shook the house and sounded like an explosion. He thought the furnace blew up. Thankfully most of the damage was isolated to the porch roof.. Your photos are great. Shows it very well.

Genny said...

Whoa! Thank goodness you and Jack weren't hurt. When I lived in NC, we had a hurricane come through. We had some huge trees in the backyard, oaks and poplars. The storm was just starting to subside, and I was looking out the window thinking we're so lucky that we didn't lose any trees. The water level is not very deep in coastal NC and the roots of trees are very close to the surface. All of a sudden, as I finished my thought, one of the oaks just fell over, pulling its whole root system out of the ground and taking our fence with it.

Razzberry Corner said...

Robin - Yes, it was deja vu. I'll be thinking it will happen again on my next walk it the woods with the cat!

Barb - It sounds like that Nana's pool was destined to have problems!

Linda - Yep, I agree, the answer is yes!

Toni aka irishlas - Jack is a little nervous cat, anyway, so this really freaked him out. He loves to be outside, but he's so scared to be outside.

Cindy - I've been telling Randy he needs to go cut up that tree in all his spare time. He just gives me "that look". It's been raining the last couple days anyway.

Jalynn - Wow, that's scary that your son was in the house. I've heard from people with similar experiences that it does sound like an explosion. Glad he was ok!

Genny - That must have been awful to see an oak tree just go over like that! We lived in VA Beach fro 8 yrs and lost alot of pine trees because of similar water problems during hurricanes, but no big oaks!

~Lynn

the inadvertent farmer said...

Wow that is a big tree...glad everyone is ok.

Had a loooong discussion about this with engineer hubby. He firmly believes that no it doesn't because unless the waves that make sound don't hit an eardrum then they are just that waves in the air.

I think he over thinks things personally! kIm

Razzberry Corner said...

TIF - legitimately, I think your husband is right. Unless the waves that make sound hit an eardrum then they are just that - sound waves in the air. But the birds and the other animals of the forest all have ears, they would have heard it even if I didn't. So it still would have made a sound, even if it was just to the animals and not heard by a human (or feline) ear. Ask him - is this right??? :)

~Lynn