STORM STORY

I had already taken Nellie for her walk and while we were out, I took pictures of the impending storm.

The mashed potatoes were in the microwave, ready to be warmed. The apricot pie was waiting to be baked during the cool of the evening. I had gone to take my shower while Mike finished grilling the chicken. That’s when the storm hit. It was 6:40 p.m. We know because that’s when the electricity went off. And about the same time – early in the storm – the forked fir tree split and half of it fell.

During the storm winds gusted to 35 mph according to our wind-o-meter. We had brief spells of hard rain or hail. Of course there was lightning and thunder. Before supper we saw smoke that appeared to come out of Little Canyon both to the north and to the south of the house. Mike left immediately to check it out but saw no fire. He finished grilling the chicken and we had supper without mashed potatoes or pie.

Whatever our plans might have been, we were now having an “old home” evening. We sat and read for awhile as daylight waned. When it was too dark to read, Mike lit the Coleman lantern and we read some more. It was while I was brushing my teeth, about 9:20, that the electricity came back on. We were relieved. We then decided to stay up a while longer. I cooked the mashed potatoes and baked the pie.

Here are before and after pictures of the tree:

This picture was taken August 5 from the other side of the pond. The tree in question is the odd forked one to the right of the house.

And here's a good picture of the damage. As you may be able to see, the tree was rotten at that fork. We count our blessings that not only was no one hurt but the branch missed the young trees we had planted in that area as well as the composter, the wood shed, the outhouse -- well, okay -- maybe the outhouse should be gone.

And here's a picture of clean-up, Mike's activity of the afternoon.