All Heck

Right after I posted yesterday, I settled in to watch the National Memorial Day Concert on PBS, as is my tradition.   They hadn't even finished singing the National Anthem when all heck broke loose. 

Here, not in DC, I mean.  That wind hit so hard, it knocked my tomato and pepper plants clean over.  I went outside to get them and put them into the carport where they'd be a bit more sheltered, and while I was out there, I took my flag down because it was whipping so hard I thought the pole might bend or break.  

I'd no sooner gotten the flag inside when I heard a crash.  I ran back outside and the baker's rack with all of my basil seedlings had tumped over.  I brought the rack into the carport and carefully got all of the little plants moved into the carport, not even worrying about the trays at the time.  I was just putting them anywhere I could to get them out of the wind.  

I had to take a couple of breaks myself to stay under shelter, because I thought that wind was going to blow me away.  I finally got them all moved, and by that time, the power was out. 

I tried to watch the concert anyway, on my phone, but the signal kept locking up, so I finally gave up and went to bed, reasoning that there was nothing more I could do until morning anyway, because it was so dark I couldn't see. 

I finally gave up and went to bed, but didn't sleep well because I didn't want to shut the bedroom door for fear it would get too stuffy in there.  Therefore, I couldn't keep the cat out, and she kept me up pretty much all night.  

When I got up this morning, the power was still out, but I was able to walk around and do a damage assessment.   My tomato and pepper plants seem fine, but my poor little basil took a beating.  

Even if I lose a few, I'll still have enough to put into my herb gardens.  

I walked around my yard and for the most part, all I got was little twiggy stuff down everywhere. 

Then I walked around the corner and the house next door wasn't nearly so lucky.  

The huge old oak tree that was at the very back of their property had finally fallen over and at least part of it landed on the house. 

 The good news is, the house is empty and is for sale right now, so nobody was hurt.  

I called the number on the for sale sign and when the realtor answered, I told her who I was, that I live next door to this house she has listed and said, "You have a little problem over here."   I told her about the tree, she thanked me for letting her know, and I got tired of sitting in the dark, so I got into my car and drove around a little bit, mainly so I could charge my phone up a bit.  

I'm telling you, there were trees and limbs down everywhere.  Mostly limbs, but a few whole trees down.  The roads were already clear by that time, though, so I didn't have any problem driving out to the lake, then to the gas station.   

I came back home and was just sitting in my car, scrolling through Facebook when I looked up and saw my kitchen light was on.  Yay!  I had electricity!  I ran inside and found the National Memorial Day concert on YouTube and was finally able to watch it. 

Shortly after that, someone came out to look at the house next door, and not too much later, some men arrived with chainsaws and cut away the parts of the tree that were on the roof.  There's still a lot of cleaning up to do, but at least they got that much done.  Now they'll be able to see if there was any damage to the house. 

While all of that was going on, I watched Taking Chance, and was just settling in to watch We Were Soldiers when the power went out again.  I wasn't too worried this time, as I figured they'd shut it off to make repairs to a branch a little further up the circuit, and sure enough, it was back on in right about two hours, and I am so over this rain. 

I have a rain gauge app called Raindrop, and according to that, we're more than 7" above our YTD average for rainfall.  I'm ready to be done, but guess what?  

Next week starts hurricane season.  

The fun just never ends...

In the midst of all of that chaos, we did not forget to take a moment to remember those who gave their last full measure of devotion in service of their country. 

We never will.