And The Beat Goes On...

The saga of the yard continues. This time it's the front and not the back. Last night about 10:30pm, AFTER the storm passed, I stepped out to let the dog outside and was greeted by "pop, pop, POP, POP, P*O*P...BANG!" Not a driveby, just the sound of our huge Maple tree snapping almost in half and barely missing the neighbor's house. Lovely. So here we were at 11pm cutting branches so the neighbor could actually get out of her front door.

It's true. Our area is STILL feeling the effects of the hurricane last year. I understand that. But just HOW can a tree removal company be backed up for TEN WEEKS??! Most only have a backup of 2 weeks or so. Lovely again. Apparently since the hurricane blazed through, every new minor storm fells a whole slew of trees. One would think we lived in a desert. Can there possibly BE that many trees to fall?

Luckily, we happened to catch a really cool "tree man" who was on his way to another job and agreed to swing by and look at it. As an aside, the title "tree man" strikes me kind of funny. Reminds me of Apollo 13 - "Steely Eyed Missle Man." I guess communing with trees is a gift. Anyhoo, "fortunately" for us, we had enough of an "emergency" that he agreed to come back with his crew and get the half of the tree that was completely filling my neighbor's yard. Yes, you read that right. HALF of the tree was in the yard next door. The OTHER half is still standing. And of course they can't get to it until Tuesday at the earliest. They tied what's left of the tree up with ropes to hold it through the weekend. See, it seems there is yet another huge limb (perched precariously over the same neighbor's roof) that is cracked and will plunge toward the ground (through said roof) should we get even a gentle breeze. Thank you Mr. Newton.