storms and trees

Well, we've had a fun couple of weeks. Mom and Dave have been helping me put up a fence in the backyard, and no sooner do we get it done than thunderstorms and high winds come through. On Monday night, we had some pretty gusting storms go through, and my neighbors willow tree decided it was finally time to split in half and topple over ... into my yard. Luckily, it missed the fence.

This is pretty much how our night went:

7:00pm fix dinner, sky is normal looking, temperatures right at 90F
7:30pm eating dinner, notice storm clouds in the north
7:35pm sit down at computer, lights flicker, big noises, lights go out

I went into the kitchen to check out the storm and see my neighbor's willow tree laying across their little wire fence, into my yard, and my power and cable lines ripped off my house as result. About 2-3 weeks ago, we were having a big storm, and I called the power company because a branch of that willow tree was laying on the lines, so they came and cut it off for me even though technically they didn't have to/aren't supposed to. Well, a lot of good that did me! *L*

This tree was probably 40 years old, was rotting (my neighbor knew this as he had already cut down the other one in his yard, he just hadn't done this one yet since the power lines run to their house in the 'V' of the trunk), and the trunk branches into two trunks in a V about 4' off the ground. So it was maybe 25' of tree toppling over into my yard. Argh.

I was reading by candlelight for a while, but the weather had mostly calmed down, so I went to bed around 11pm. Plus, at that point, the automated system for the power company was saying 2am before power was restored.

11pm bedtime
1am more storms! huge noises, pouring sheets of rain, woke Jack and I both up
1:30am manage to get back to sleep after listening to the radio say "flash flood warnings" not in my area

4am the power company guys arrive to start using their chainsaws on the tree!!
4:05am moved Jack back to his room to try to sleep, good thing he got that new futon
6am wake up, still no power, get ready for the day

When I called the power company from work, they said it looked like they were planning to have it restored by 2pm. I don't know when it came back on exactly, but it was back when we got home. The cable lines were still on the ground though, so I called them and they came out to fix it very quickly. However, this morning my internet was back down. So odd. I didn't turn the TV on, so I don't know if it is all of my cable or just the internet.

I had 3-4 pieces of the underside of my eave ripped off, but I fixed those last night. My neighbor had family over to help him cut up and haul away some of the tree. There is still quite a lot there though.

Here are the pictures I took. It's hard to see things if you've never been in my yard. Hopefully, you can get the perspective from the other trees.