Parking Question
 

Let's say that you have a choice of two places to park. One parking space is under a very large tree. The second parking place is under a very large tree of the same age and type, but tree number two has a history of having dropped very large limbs on other coworkers cars. There are strong thunderstorms with high winds predicted.

Our puzzle assumes that there are no parking spaces on the building-side of the parking lot where there are no trees. I may be incorrectly assuming that the risk of an entire tree falling down across the parking lot toward the building is minimal, but factoring that in can make the problem too complex. So, what's riskier ... a tree that has proven that it loses limbs, or one that could be in a position to do so? Other factors: even though my car insurance is paid up and I have a fairly low deductible, I like my car and can do without the hassle.

I'm sorry, I thought you said porking question.

don't try to outsmart Mother Nature--she'll get you in the end either way. Park in the closest spot and take your chances.

(Option three, which is not given serious consideration, even though HR has told us it's okay, unless there is some massive event like the lecture series going on and there are seriously no parking spaces and the car gets moved as soon as another space opens up, and there are four of them anyway, is that, um, I will, usually only about three, maybe four times a year, park in the farthest away handicapped space, but I do hang the placard on the rearview if I do it)

Perhaps the tree that has lost limbs before has lost all the limbs it's going to lose, and the tree that has lost none has one that's now ripe for this storm.

Or perhaps the tree that has dropped limbs in the past is rotten to the core and will keep on dropping them until it's all gone.

Do you see any clearly dead limbs on either? Any splits, cracks, checks.

What is the risk of being towed if you park in the grass away from all the trees whenever a thunderstorm comes through?


I see no thunderstorms brewing in all of PA, so this isn't an immediate question, is it?

Question: are the tree limbs expected to amybe possibly drop dead or alive? I've learned (or, to be more accurate, a previous employer learned) that insurance will cough up for live limbs that fall. Dead limbs that fall are a hazard that the owner of the property should have removed, and the owner will generally end up wishing they had.

It was last night, and will remain a question in the future.

It was just too busy at the nuthouse to post at the time.

Because I tend to be a catastrophist, I expect that if I don't park under either potentially dangerous tree a large chunk of the building facade which has been somewhat indifferently maintained since it's construction in 1936 will come crashing down on my car.

take a chainsaw... get the jump on mother nature.

so quit worrying about it. Que sera, sera!

Wolf must know a law breaker who would rub out the offender for a couple loads of firewood.

Park under the tree: good because of shade and I have no A/C. Bad because of bird poop. Good because I would love a tree to fall on my POS car. Bad because those spaces are always taken because they are closest to the building.

The extra steps don't bother me. A day of 95 degrees with 90% humidity causes me to cuss under my breath at the nice cars sitting sweetly in the shade.

They make cars with no A/C?

Nah, but sometimes you can't afford to fix them when they break.

In Arizona you always park under the tree, even if it's farther from the building and there's limbs, sap and poop. The shade is worth it at any time.
You can tell a true native as they will grovel for shade, no matter how miniscule it may be.

Willing to walk long distances.

None of my cars had it and neither does HM's current one.