Ah, The Joys Of Home Ownership - Updated!

Anyone who's been reading here for any length of time has figured out that I love meteorology, and I get all excited when severe thunderstorms and tornadoes are predicted. Last Wednesday night karma came to bite me in the you-know-what in the form of a thunderstorm the likes of which I associate with Spring in the Midwest. There was one blinding flash of lightning and eardrum-shattering blast of thunder that left me hoping none of our neighbors' houses were hit. As it turns out, they weren't. Instead, it turned out to be one of the fourty feet tall swamp maples in our backyard:


Kevin found it yesterday, bark blasted off the tree in ginormous pieces and thrown several yards away from the tree.


And, worse still, the tree is splitting in two right down the middle of the trunk. We've already sent out an SOS to our arborist. I hope we can save the tree. It provides so much shade in our yard, and lots of birds and squirrels live there.

Also? Our dryer and dishwasher are both on the fritz, so I'll be calling about those tomorrow as well. And there goes the July budget just.like.that.

On the other hand, it's still better than renting and waiting for a landlord to take action. I think.

Evening update - The arborist was fairly alarmed at the sight of the tree, saying it could come down at any moment, even in the light breeze we had today. The tree unfortunately has to go for safety reasons. Since more severe weather is predicted here for Thursday, and Wednesday is a holiday, the crew will be here tomorrow bright and early to take it down. On the plus side, all the equipment will keep Liam entertained. On the down side, the estimate is $2200. Ouch.