When the bough breaks…

…Or even the whole dang tree!

Normally when we look out our window our wonderful neighbor/landlord’s front porch looks something like this… Well, yesterday afternoon around 3:00, it turned into this…

That’s right, a HUGE pine tree split 1/4 of the way up the trunk and completely destroyed their porch. It was devastating to our wonderful neighbors. Fortunately for us, it only hit the corner of our house and broke a gutter, and maybe a few shingles. I was lying on the couch getting ready to take a nap while Tucker was down, so I called David to make sure he made it to the office OK in the wind. Before he left he mentioned how ugly it was outside. I had been out there 10-minutes earlier and it was fine, my landlord was even blowing leaves. So, I told him it was just Doug out there with the blower. Well, when David left and it didn’t stop for 30-minutes I figured out it was actually the wind. So he and I laughed for a minute then hung up. Literally, 30-seconds later I hear this loud CRACK, and the lot’s of scraping on our window and commotion. So, I thought that the wind had actually ripped the screens right off of our window. I jumped up to look, and instead, this is what I see…

I grabbed my cell phone and started calling Jeri (neighbor/landlord) and ran to the front porch. Fortunately Jeri and Doug were running out there at the same time and we all were in shock. Our other 2-neighbors had run out as well and we all kind of gathered together and just stared at the tree, really not sure what to think. I called David back and told him, it was hard to explain exactly what had happened so I sent him a picture on my phone. A few minutes later he called back and said he’s on his way home to help. About 4:15 or so David and Doug started hacking away at the tree with chainsaws to start moving it out. Our wonderful friend Travis Harris came over to help, and we are SO grateful. Our other friends, the Coombs, offered their help as well. It was such a warm feeling to be able to help our neighbors, and see our other neighbors gather together as well. It gave me that sense of neighborly love that I remember having growing up on Stone Canyon Circle. When something bad happens, everyone gathers to help in the effort.

They worked through the rain well into the dark before they had to stop for the night. It’s amazing how much they got done. I didn’t get pictures of the progress, but I’ll take some tomorrow afternoon. For now, here are a few more of the wreckage…

Our neighbors had such a pretty landscape with flowerpots, and little tress… not anymore.