A tree that falls in a lonely forest may not make a sound, but what about the tree that falls on your neighbor’s house?
The sound it makes? Cha-ching.
Texas Forest Service is encouraging homeowners and landowners to remove fire- and drought-killed trees that are within falling distance of neighboring homes, roads and pathways. Failure to do so, agency officials say, could make you liable for damages.
“Be aware that your tree could fall onto someone else’s property,” Texas Forest Service Central Texas Operations Department Head Jim Rooni said. “The rules vary from place to place, but generally the owner of the tree is responsible. Bottom line: You could be liable.”

Rooni said foresters received an influx of calls following the deadly wildfire that ripped through Bastrop last September, destroying roughly 1.5 million trees. But the liability issue isn’t limited to trees killed by fire, he said.

Texas is emerging from one of the most devastating droughts and one of the most unprecedented wildfire seasons in state history. Though there is no official count for the total number of trees killed by wildfire, foresters and analysts have estimated that as many as 500 million trees in rural forested areas and another 5.6 million trees in populated urban areas were killed as a result of the 2011 drought.

The sheer volume of dead trees — especially those standing in populated areas — poses a significant hazard, Rooni said.

“Standing, dead trees are dangerous and unpredictable,” Rooni said. “If they fall, they can cause serious damage — and even death.”

If your tree still has yet to sprout green leaves, forestry experts say it’s most likely dead. If you’re not sure, read our Texas Forest Service tree assessment guide, check out our facebook photo album to see examples of trees in varying states or contact a certified arborist.

Calhoun County Youth Rodeo

Calhoun County Fairgrounds

Port Lavaca, Texas

Friday, August 3rd

Saturday, August 4th

Check-in is at 6:00 pm

Events begin at 7:00 pm

Events include: straights, cloverleaf, poles, goat hair pull, goat tying, breakaway, ribbons, tiedown, and team roping. Roughstock (Saturday only) includes bull riding, saddle bronc, junior steer riding, and bareback.

See entry form for more details (http://portlavacatx.org) or email CCYRAinfo@yahoo.com.

Puns for Educated Minds

Two hats were hanging on a hat rack in the hallway. One hat said to the other, “You stay here; I’ll go on a head.”

I wondered why the baseball kept getting bigger. Then it hit me.

A sign on the lawn at a drug rehab center said: “Keep off the Grass”.

The midget fortune-teller who escaped from prison was a small medium at large.

The soldier who survived mustard gas and pepper spray is now a seasoned veteran.

A backward poet writes inverse.

In a democracy, it’s your vote that counts. In feudalism, it’s your count that votes.

When cannibals ate a missionary, they got a taste of religion.

If you jumped off the bridge in Paris, you’d be in Seine.

A vulture boards an airplane, carrying two dead raccoons. The stewardess looks at him and says, “I’m sorry, sir, only one carrion allowed per passenger.

Two fish swim into a concrete wall. One turns to the other and say, “Dam!”

There was the person who sent ten puns to friends, with the hope that at least one of the puns would make them laugh. No pun in ten did.

English: A Puzzling Language

They were too close to the door to close it.

The buck does funny things when the does are present.

A seamstress and a sewer fell down into a sewer line.

To help with the planting, the farmer taught his sow to sow.

The wind was too strong to wind the sail.

Upon seeing the tear in the painting, I shed a tear.

I had to subject the subject to a series of tests.

How can I intimate this to my most intimate friend?

Let’s face it – English is a crazy language. There is no egg in eggplant, nor ham in hamburger; neither apple nor pine in pineapple. English muffins weren’t invented in England or French fries in France. Sweetmeats are candies while sweetbreads, which aren’t sweet, are meat.

We take English for granted, but if we explore its paradoxes, we find that quicksand can work slowly, boxing rings are square, and a guinea pig is neither from Guinea nor is it a pig.

English was invented by people, not computers, and it reflects the creativity of the human race, which, of course, is not a race at all. That is why, when the stars are out, they are visible, but when the lights are out, they are invisible.