It started with a bang at 7:45 AM. A very big bang. The house shook. I was here in my office at the computer. Banjo Man was just getting out of bed.
“It’s the tree!” he yelled and we both rushed into the living room to look out the front windows at the huge tree that has shaded our home for thirty-one years.
Sure enough, the tree had split in half down the middle with a large part of it resting on our roof. Weakened by last week’s winds, this morning’s gusts finished it off.
Banjo Man rushed off to get dressed and I turned around to grab my phone. I have learned from experience that the first things to do were (a) take pictures and (b) call the insurance company.
This is what I saw:
Yes, a branch had come right through the ceiling. My poor quilt was stabbed to the wall.
It’s like a horror movie, a friend said (Ruth had stopped by to pick up some supplies I’d found for her, things that couldn’t be found in her grocery store, but more about shortages in another post).
The forecast was for rain all day and all night, though it had yet to begin.
#buckets
We called Barb and Rod because they are our friends, they live down the street and they are always ready and willing to help out in any emergency.
Thank God.
Glen and Rod managed to tie tarps over the holes in the roof. In the process of putting buckets in the attic, they discovered some major structural damage to rafters and beams. There is a crack in our east wall. The front door has moved. The entry light no longer works, meaning we had to turn off the circuit breaker and lose half the power in the living room.
In other words, this is not going to be a quick fix. In a time of worker and lumber shortages, this is going to take a while as we hope that the tarps keep the rain out.
Banjo Man called the longtime owner of a tree-cutting business who lives around the corner. He is going to try to get a team together tomorrow to remove the tree from the roof. He explained that he used to employ 18 people and now has trouble hiring more than two.
Ah, 2021…
Once the tree is removed, the tarps will have to be redone, something Banjo Man is not looking forward to doing. But…one step at a time, right?
Barb and Rod were scheduled to come for dinner tonight, so while all the temporary roof protections were happening I put a couple of pork tenderloins in the crockpot and decided it would be “business as usual” later on, when the dust settled.
There isn’t anything else to be done, not until the claims adjustor contacts us Monday. So we might as well enjoy dinner and spend a few hours catching up on each other’s summers.
Doesn’t that sound like more fun than staring at the tree in the ceiling?
is there any more pie? 