White House Tree Needs Bailout

Strong winds took out a 69-year old tree at the White House:

Strong winds have knocked down a tree on the White House's North Lawn.

The tree appeared to have been snapped off near its base during a storm Tuesday afternoon. The large tree had stood between Pennsylvania Avenue and the West Wing.

White House spokesman Bill Burton says it was a European linden. Grounds crews on Wednesday will grind up the tree to use it for mulch.

Burton says the tree was planted in 1940 but not by a president to mark a special occasion.

Normally when a 69-year old falls in Washington it's a Senator.

I realize this isn't that newsworthy a story, but it's a springboard to a D.C. memory of mine.

In July of 1976 I was in Washington D.C. on a church choir tour. In the morning we had visited the White House to see an arrival ceremony for the Chancellor of Germany, and it was hot and incredibly muggy. After sweating for most of the day I went back to the dorm room at Georgetown where we were staying and filled a bathtub with cool water so I could soak for awhile (I don't think I've taken a bath since then).

As I was sitting there I began to hear what sounding like explosions in the distance. It sounded like they were blowing up the city. The explosions got louder and louder until it finally dawned on me that the noise was an approaching thunderstorm (being from Southern California, we don't get T-storms very often and when we do they're pretty mild).

A line of severe weather came through the city and knocked down about 1,000 trees (none at the White House as far as I know). The city was even more messed up than usual.

Good times....good times...