Look closely just past the white sheeting in this photo – you’ll see the rootball of a toppled tree that we noticed is drawing some doubletakes as it rests precariously on the slope where California Way meets Harbor near Seacrest (map).
interesting…they’ve had slides in this area before.A few years ago that lower part of Calif. Ave. was completely closed while they “fixed it”.Looks like they need to go back and finish the job. Scarily, that’s sort of below the Hamilton Viewpoint…
did I hear it’s going to rain for 40 more days and nights?
That ‘ole hill’s been movin for years. Kinda like the rest of ’em around here. I think I remember that road being closed for a couple of years while they attempted to stabilize it. 40 days and nites of rain might give us a bunch of new waterfront property to develop!
Hey WSB, question for you. I notice you sometimes use an embedded Google Map widget, and sometime link to a Map Quest map. Just curious when you use one vs the other. Personally I prefer the embedded google map.
MMC, here’s our general philosophy on that (always subject to change, whims, new ideas, etc.) – when it’s something urgent, something in a not-so-well-known location, something with multiple locations (the red-light cams, the Christmas light houses, peeper attacks, etc.) – we will put up an embedded Google map. When it’s something less urgent and the map is just a little seasoning, we’ll just add a link. The code for the Google maps tends to slow down the pageload so if we put too many up within the span of a day or two, some of the folks with slower computers (us included depending on which equipment we’re working with) will be inconvenienced.
Gravity happens. That hillside had a major slide in the 1996-1997 winter, and it took over a year to repair and (temporarily) stabilize. It was a >$1 million repair.
many of the trees on this hillside and behind-uphill- of the houses along akli are totally infested with english ivy. when english ivy grows up a tree and gets into the tree canopy, it stresses the tree to support the additional wieght of the ivy and makes it more vulnerable to disease. moreover, with ivy spreading out up in the canopy- when the wind blows- the ivy acts like a sail. many of the blown down trees from last winters storms were trees that had been infested with ivy.
not sure if this tree is ivy-ridden, but that is definately an issue in that area.
good things is, there is something that property owners can do to deal with ivy trees in thier yard- check out http://www.ivyout.org for more resources and links to the king county noxious weed board, etc. english ivy is also a huge problem in urban parks and open spaces- check out http://www.earthcorps.org or the green seattle partnership to learn more about volunteer-based and contract efforts going on in seattle.
sorry for the ivy rant– this time of year, it is is so visable that it drives me crazy, especially when i walk along alki and look southeast away from the water.
Lina, thanks for pointing that out. Someone pointed that out to us long ago and so in the early years of our homeownership, when we spent a lot of time out in the yard/garden, we diligently pulled each and every sprig of ivy we encountered, and therefore have none (that we know of, till we get back out there in spring!) — it’s important to remember that even if you think the ivy isn’t causing trouble on your own property, birds eat the berries/seeds and through the natural course of things, wind up seeding other areas.
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