Hurricane 1, Marilyn 4

Hi,
last weekend we experienced our first Pennsylvania hurricane. Hopefully our last. Our house was fine, no leaks, no damage, no hits, no runs, no fouls. Whew. Neighbours were not so lucky. Behind us the Collins' had a huge tree land on their house. Gutters & roof were damaged but it made them re-think how many old big trees they have on their property. Nine trees and $8000 later they are feeling poorer in pocket but safer all around. People across from them had their Mini Cooper squashed by another tree. Power was out for 16 hours Sunday through Monday and for a few hours on Thursday but that was the depth of inconvenience for us. We ended up hosting a hurricane party Sunday night. I made sushi (gas stove provided cooking ability for rice and I had bought fresh fish on Saturday).Kim, Malcolm & Megan came bearing food and candles so we sat around by firelight and enjoyed a great meal with fun company. I think we should have a 'light-out' party once a month.

I've listened to people all week tell their tales of woes from this weather disaster. Serious flooding wiped out River Road here, along with several houses along the water. People with property in the 'flood zone' near the river all had filled basements. Most of the expensive damage was done by downed trees and branches. A lot of home owners here don't take care of the older trees and keep them trimmed, dead branch-free or removed when they rot out. Therefore, they are a disaster looking for a place to happen in a storm like this one. Now the arborists are making off like bandits getting the trees taken out or off buildings and mashed cars. They can name any price they want when you need a crane & crew to salvage your house. Power to them.

I hate to say it but I was feeling rather smug cleaning up our yard after the whole thing had blown over. Nothing fell down but buckets of rain on our new, dry roof. All our rotted trees were removed 2 years ago and dead branches are long gone thanks to my tree-master, Lee Stockard. Two hours of twig & branch picking up filled 4 large lawn & leaf bags, and I was done. Most of which was not even off our trees but stuff that was blown into our property. It pays to take that ounce of prevention rather than the pounding, just ask some of our neighbours.

xox
m