Disaster!

A small to middle size disaster struck our little abode this weekend.

Friday evening as we, ever so calmly, made preparations to grill our dinner, one of our backyard eucalyptus trees decided it needed to shed some weight.



Yes I know, it doesn't look like all that much from that angle; after all it was only a branch with a one foot diameter. Here are some increasingly graphic photos. Shield your ideas if tree death alarms you.



Former majesty, draped over newly downed electric and cable wires.



Patio furniture, lime tree, and various and sundry plants and wires buried under tons of foilage.



Here's the long view. Sad isn't it?

The good news, no deaths (other than the tree which will probably have to come down now that a third of it is missing). S did have a bit of leaf burn... he was outside lighting the grill just behind where you can see the green canvas patio umbrella. Fortunately, instincts kicked in when he heard the crack and he got out of the way in time to miss the big stuff.

Bad news ... we had no electricity over night. Good news... it was like camp. Better news, S was able to do a bit of repair work himself Saturday morning and Edison came out quickly to get us "back on the grid."

Bad news... we have had no cable and, worse, NO INTERNET since Friday! I actually had to come to work today to be able to read email, check blogs, and post (not to mention work). Horrors! Unfortunately there isn't good news here ... the cable people came out yesterday and couldn't fix it ... the line is deader than a doornail. They were supposed to come back this morning to drop a new line. Have I mentioned we still don't have cable?

After waiting three hours for our scheduled appointment to show this morning, we finally called. Oh yeah, they moved our appt to Sept 1 without telling us!!! Thanks for nothing Time Warner. After a bit of appropriate complaining, they did move the appt up until Aug 31. Geez.. shows you what a monopoly does.

Good news... all in all, so far the expenses out of our pocket haven't been too bad. The bad news, taking the tree out will be the most expensive task and the insurance won't help with that at all... after all, why would insurance want to cover any preventative services... so much better to wait for the tree to die, fall on the house, kill someone and break through the roof... that they'll cover. Capitalism!!

So what's a girl to do when there's no cable, no internet, and no electricity? Well sleep when it's dark of course. Knitting in the dark is hard though. Even when the electricity came on I found myself a bit listless.

After conspiring to get a family recipe though, I did manage to make a big ole' mess of salsa.



Thanks Terri, Cindy, and Bree for sharing the secret!