damage

We had the biggest storm I've ever been through in my life (I think). It was truly frightening to sit under the stairs and listen to the wind rage with two little kids in the dark (power outage). But thankfully no one was injured and nothing damaged beyond some plant life. In the morning when sun lit the world for us again we surveyed the yard. Lots of things got blown around.

This ball blown from the backyard into a front corner of the house.

The glass pane that makes the lid of my cold frame was flipped entirely upside down and not broken or even cracked. I was amazed!

Various garden plants and flowers got flattened

and my bean poles are leaning but haven't fallen down entirely.

I lost my clothesline to a dropped limb (ready to replace it anyways).

The big thing was that a third of a tree fell across my driveway. Luckily the car was parked further down and didn't get hit.

It took a team of neighbors (six adults total plus two kids whacking at things and cutting small stems with scissors) armed with long-handled pruners, handsaws and one heavy mallet two hours to clear the driveway. Then the guy across the street came home and he owns a chainsaw! Things went much quicker then. I am indebted to the wonderful people who assisted us.

But my poor trees. The nicest ones in my entire yard. The lefthand one had a few limbs broken from its center when the other tree fell into it.

The righthand one lost three of its "trunks" and over a third of its mass is now gone.

The limbs were literally twisted off by that terrifying wind. I don't know if I can save the tree- I'd have to trim off the jagged torn material down to a smooth surface and that might be too close to the heart of the tree. O dear.

But we are all safe, which is the important thing. And we only lost power for one day. Several hundred thousand people around us and in neighboring states are still without electricity, and that's just unbearable in this heat wave (it was 105 yesterday). Hotels are crammed full. I am glad that we have a solid roof and cooling air and I only lost half the food in my fridge, a few tomatoes and peppers off the plants outside.

And maybe one poor tree.