That Damn Tree

Another few days in the record books for the Weirdo and I.

On Wednesday The Weirdo came home around 3 PM, let the dogs out, and then left to go pick up the Monkey. I woke up around 4 PM. I stretched, got dressed, and ambled through the house towards the back door for a smoke. I stopped dead in my tracks when I looked out the back windows and saw a tree on my back deck. My mind raced:

Did the Weirdo bring home a bunch of branches for some project she has in mind? Why would she leave them there? They're big too - how did she move them? I hope she's not juicing...

My brain began processing the rain that had been drenching the area before I went to bed. Then it all clicked: the rain & storm knocked the tree over. Great.

To say this was a big tree would be a bit of an understatement. This tree fell from my neighbor's yard just on the other side of my fence, went across my entire back yard, damaged the fence on the other side, and covered half my driveway. It ripped down the gutters on the back of the house, the fascia board behind the gutters, and the plastic underside of the porch. The fence is completely demolished where the tree fell. The roof is damaged. The back deck railings were knocked aside like balsa wood, and to top it all off some electrical wires were torn down. And there were the dogs, looking nervously between me and the tree as if to say "I didn't do it..."

So I called the Weirdo to fill her in. Then it was a call to my best friend the Fireman. Then the Weirdo's dad. Then the utility company. The Fireman and the utility guys showed up around the same time it started raining again. The electrical wires were determined to be safe enough that close to 5 PM and quitting time. Soon I was on the phone with the insurance company, who promised a meeting with the adjuster within 48 hours.

47.5 hours later the insurance guy shows up. He spent about an hour and a half inspecting, poking, prodding, snapping pictures, and jotting notes down. I thought he was pretty nice, although my opinion will not be officially made up until next week when I know if we'll get enough to repair everything. He left Friday afternoon, and I went to work Friday night.

The Weirdo and her Bestie went out Friday night, so I had to come home halfway through the shift to walk the dogs one last time before putting them in their kennels for the night. I let them out the back door, then went back inside for a few minutes. I came back out and called them to the back door to get them inside for the night. Just as the dogs came onto the deck so did one of our cats. The bulldog and the cat did not get along, and as always the bulldog immediately began to chase the cat. Only this time, with the downed tree covering half the deck, the cat had nowhere to go. The dog caught and killed the cat in a matter of seconds. If that damn tree hadn't have fallen the cat would have gotten away like always.

Got off work at 7 AM, nearing the 24 hour mark of being awake. The Weirdo would be waking up and coming home soon, and I didn't want any gruesome sights waiting for her. So I buried the cat, used a rock to mark the grave, and went to bed.

It's the unexpected cause and effect that's got my mind so occupied. A tree fell, and we immediately assumed the worst part of everything was that the house was damaged. We never in a million years would have guessed that the tree falling would result in the cat getting killed two days later. In addition, the tree falling has already screwed up our plans for next week. The Weirdo has to go out of town for two days for work training and our plan was that me and the Monkey would go with her. Now, with the fence down, we can't leave the dogs out and have a friend put them inside at night so me and the Monkey are staying home.

I'm really going to enjoy taking a chainsaw to that tree.