had a big storm here Tuesday morning.
I woke at 7 am to the sound of a freight train going through the house. Jumped out of bed and was immediately hit by a 100 mph blast of wind. The house shook, lights went out, I heard the sound of peeling metal on metal and a huge crash and the concussion of the ground moving.
Said a quick prayer and prepared to meet my maker.
Five minutes of pure bedlam outside and I was still alive and grabbed the small flashlight to get to the big flashlight. Ran from window to window trying to see what was left of the place and realized the rain was so hard the light would not penetrate more than a couple of feet. No leaks inside, no protruding branches or gapping holes so I sat down in the dark to wait for daylight, then realized it should already be daylight!
Neighbor banged on the door wanting in. Came in soaked to the bone screaming she did not want to die alone!
About half hour latter it brightened up enough to see so I was spotting things in the yard with the big light and informed the neighbor she now needed a new shed, her back door was torn off and one of her trees was down, the big one, and it was across the road.
One way in, one way out and the tree was across the one way. BIG TREE! Little car arrives with wife that needs to get to work, followed by another wife that needs to get to work. 2 quick phone calls and husbands arrive with chain saws. Big tree is out of the road in about 5 minutes.
I go out on the back porch in the semi dawn and realize something is wrong. Discover that all the screen is blown off the screened in back porch. Search with the light and realize I have a tree missing! Big tree, 4 feet diameter and 50 feet tall. It is now covering most of the back yard. Torn out by the roots. All the guttering is blown off the back of the house and part of the siding is gone. I suppose that was the metal sound I heard.
At least the walls are still up and the roof is still on.
No power, no internet, no phone, no cell phone.
Morning spent visiting neighbors, accessing damage, preparing for a night without power with temperature dropping. Rained most of the day. Seems like everyone but me is going to stay with kids or parents or relatives. I put all the food from the fridge into the cooler, pack it with ice and break out the Buddy Heater. That little Buddy heater kept my 12x26 living room at 75 degrees with an outside temp of 39 for the whole night. Buddy Heaters rock!
I had the big Deitz railroad lantern sitting in the bath tub used as a night light. Just that lantern kept the bathroom pretty warm.
Power came back on at 9 am. 26 hours without juice.
I spent the day looking at the damage today. There is nothing that needs immediate attention except for the guttering and I will climb up there and deal with getting that down tomorrow. I will worry about replacing it latter. The big tree will be cut up one limb at a time when and as I feel like it. Probably one of the neighbors will volunteer to cut it up for the firewood it will make and I will be happy to let them have it. I just had a procedure done on my back and I am not about to mess that up again trying to do something that will wait forever if necessary.
Anyhow, I was gone for 36 hours with no internet and that was what I was doing. Big fun!
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