When trees attack ... (no guns involved)

Tonight most of us were sitting in the garden eating dinner when we heard a series of loud pops like rifle shots.  My first reaction was to be more alarmed than I would be in the US (not that I ever like to hear shots in the US either) because guns aren't widely available here, so if someone is shooting, it's not a sportsman, it's police, military, or someone who has gone to some lengths to keep an illegal gun, and none of those scenarios are good.  In the next few seconds a large branch from the tall tree in the backyard came crashing down.  Having a somewhat one-track mind, my next thought was, "Someone shot down a branch from our tree!!"  On reflection, it was clear that I had it all wrong.  The branch fell from the tree of its own accord - no guns necessary.

Fortunately we were all well away from where the branch fell, so no one was hurt.  The staff was here and they came out to see it too.  We went over cautiously and inspected the tree and noticed that there were two more branches that had been damaged and might need to come out.  One was a large branch and the other was a small branch.  Several of the staff spontaneously exclaimed "Gracias a Dios!! and we agreed (I think I mentioned that they are native Spanish speakers).  A couple of hours later I found Katy and Laura avidly sitting in the window of their room on the top floor at the back of the house watching the tree and waiting for the next branch to fall.  They had started to hear cracks from that branch and were waiting to see what happened (from INSIDE the house, a safe distance away).  I warned everyone to stay inside the house because the the next branch was in imminent danger of collapse.  Sure enough, the second large branch came down a few minutes ago (10:15 pm).  The remaining branch that was damaged was very small, so even if it does come down it won't cause damage.  A neighbor who represents the EU overseas (on her way to India in a week) came over to check on everything about an hour ago (before the second branch fell) and I told her about the tree and mentioned that the second branch was likely to come down tonight.  I told her that it was likely to fall on the pots in the yard, but that I didn't think it was a good idea for anyone to go out and move them because the branch was definitely on its way down.  She said she will call the owner of the house to have a tree surgeon come in and check on the rest of the tree to be sure it's still sound.  I'm hoping they don't need to take the rest of the tree out, because it's a beautiful old tree, but I think there's a good chance they might.  At least half of the top of the tree is now down.  By the way, don't worry - we will not go under or anywhere near the tree until we've had the experts out to address any problems. 

In any case, it's been a somewhat eventful evening, but we're hoping this is the end of it.  I just wanted to give you all the whole story in case someone writes home something about a branch falling but doesn't mention that everyone is safe and there's no damage (except to the tree itself, of course.  Poor tree).

Doomed tree several hours before the branches fell.  This photo is taken from the balcony of our room.  The doomed tree is the one on the right with the ivy-covered trunk and the yellow flowers.  The top of the tree goes above the level of the photo (at least this afternoon it did).  The fallen branches currently cover the path and grass from the last set of pots all the way back.  We used a high-power light on the balcony to inspect the remains from here.  Several of us were eating at the glass table when the first branch fell.  Gracias a dios indeed.