Irene

While some people yawned during Hurricane Irene, calling it hyped up and boring, a tree fell on my house. (Seriously, I can't understand that way of thinking. Don't people watch the news and take into account other people's feelings and sufferings?)

Neighbor's tree on our house

(Photos taken from our backyard on August 28, 2011

during the eye of the hurricane)

It was hot and muggy that Saturday night and we were all tired (from all the hurricane prep work), sticky and very uncomfortable, especially Liam. After he fell asleep on our sofa, Bill carried him upstairs to our bedroom, the only room in the house with air conditioning at the moment. We planned to only have him sleep there for a little while and then move downstairs to the basement to sleep there together for the rest of the night. Bill and I remained awake watching the news coverage downstairs on the first floor. Then, just before three o'clock in the morning on Sunday, we heard the boom. Bill immediately ran upstairs grabbed Liam and brought him downstairs to the basement. We grabbed our 72-hour emergency bags, some food and water, and hunkered down. Liam was crying and scared for a bit, but then we popped in a DVD and he was fine. He fell asleep again moments later. Bill and Liam did manage to sleep for at least a few hours, but I remained awake the whole time. I tried closing my eyes, but I just couldn't. The ferocious winds and powerful gusts kept me awake the whole time waiting for another boom.

We were worried about five big trees that are too close to our house. Four of the five trees in question are on our neighbor's property (you know, the abandoned property with the noxious weeds and the boarded up little house that looks like a shack). The tree that fell on our house was one on our neighbor's property on the far side of their backyard actually leaning towards the other neighboring house. Instead, it fell on our house.

The tree hit the roof on the back part of our house. Another tree's branches broke the impact of the fall as that tree came down so that the actual fall onto our house was not as severe. Its own branches also cushioned the fall on the roof. Another factor that might have broken some of the impact is the brick chimney, but we will have to get a professional take a look at it to see if it took a bad hit. Our antenna as well as our neighbor's were also knocked down, though ours is still working. (Yes, we are antenna people. We can't afford satellite or cable TV and the antenna picks up loads of other channels in addition to the standard network channels, including HD radio.)

As for the tree itself, having had a closer look at that tree, it doesn't look particularly strong and healthy. We have been told it is a locust tree and those are very week trees with soft wood. Their leaf system reminds me of poison sumac and it really creeps me out. We could see that its roots were small and thin, either from not being healthy to begin with, or probably from over saturation from the record-braking rainfall we have had this month alone prior to the hurricane. The other neighboring house on the opposite side of my immediate neighbor had complained about that tree just three days prior to the hurricane, but the bank that has taken possession and is supposedly "maintaining" that property refused to do anything about it because they are "still foreclosing" on that property and until they actually have ownership papers, they "cannot" and "will not" do any major stuff to that house.

Part of our food and water storage for emergency use at home.

Our 72-hour emergency kits, also known as "Go Bags"

I still can't believe that a tree fell on our house. Of course, it could have been worse. It could always be worse. Even though I'm so sad right now, I am still so grateful that nothing more serious happened and that we came out of this okay. We prayed and prayed that we would be safe, along with our house and car.

Oh, and we didn't lose power. That was a good thing since our refrigerator and chest freezer were still full.

The tree is now off the house (as of Thursday). That's a good thing, too. We were worried that the weight of the tree would cause more damage. As for the removal of the tree, it actually took a crew of six men, one lift, ropes and pulleys, chain saws, and a machine that I can only describe as a "muncher", ironically called "Hurricane". Those men were all over our backyard and the two neighboring backyards. It was quite an operation since they needed to be careful not to cause any further damage to our house.

Now we're in the middle of the more daunting task of not just cleaning up, but dealing with our insurance company. We pray that all goes well, and that we will be make all the necessary repairs.

We also need to take action with regards to that "abandoned" neighboring property. I want all of their old, crooked, unhealthy trees removed, all of their noxious weeds that poke and hang over our wired fence dead, and that house declared condemned and knocked down once and for all. That's not too much to ask for is it?