Hermine was predicted to head over to the northern part of Mexico, right at the area where they just found a mass grave with 72 people, you know, just in case those poor people hadn't already had enough drama and upset in their lives from all the Drug Land Mafia Turf Wars. And at the last second, Hermine said to herself, "Self, I think I will spare that part of Mexico and just head inland over Texas and up to Oklahoma and come to rest in Wichita, Kansas". And here in central Texas we have been slammed, and I mean, slammed with wind and rain. Gusts up to 60 mph and the whole storm moving at 18 - 20 mph. It took a long-ass time to make its way across here, is what I am saying.
And other than a lot of flooding, downed branches and leaves and debris everywhere, our only problem was that the power had gone out. It was out for about 12 hours here at our house. Other places had it much worse. When Mr. Big Ed got home from work he said "What's with the big tree laying down in the street?" So of course we all go running outside to see the tree and then I ran right back in and got my camera. It seems that our across-the-street-and down-one-house neighbors' biggest and most beautiful oak tree just fell over. It didn't crack or anything like that, it just tipped right over. Right over the middle of the street, thankfully, and not over their house. I would much prefer to have to find an alternate route in and out of the neighborhood than for them to have a big hole in their home with another night full of thunderstorms and no power coming at us.
Here is what it looked like:
Doesn't that just break your heart? Keep watching.
I made my friend
It gets worse. Here is the aftermath:
Sorry about the car door in the last 2 aftermath pics. Heartbreaking is what this is.
Our neighborhood is known for the multitude of live oaks on every property, and that one was one of the prettiest on theirs. So sad. Another casualty of Mother Nature and her fury.
awwwwwwwwwwww. so sad!
ReplyDeleteThe storms yesterday were crazy!
First of all, I want to thank you for your thoughtful and informative comment on my blog, filling me up with your expertise on Mexico. I did watch for the decorations and when I saw them, I was all, "I know what that's about! Lisa Pie told me!"
ReplyDeleteWhen we were headed out of Cabo, a huge wallop of a storm hit. From what I had discovered in talking to the locals, Mexico gets very little rain. We were delayed in a terminal without air conditioning for about 2 hours as they waited for the storm to pass us by. When it didn't, they decided to escort us all one by one out to our airplane with umbrellas. Because of course, we had to go onto the tarmac to get to our plane. And that was a very small piece of all the adventures I had there. I'll post all of them next week. But thank you for all your wonderful tips. I'm going to leave 2 comments because Blogger will probably not let me post my next part in one piece. It's just too long.
The other thing I wanted to say is, we moved into our house almost 5 years ago. We bought this property because it was so lovely, filled with huge grandfather oaks and just greenery everywhere. When we went to build, we had to get special permits for the grandfather oak that sits closest to our house because it was the 4th oldest recorded oak in our county, estimated to be about 240 years old. It was also one of the largest. I guarded that thing with my life as we built. 2 weeks after we moved in, the worst summer of hurricanes in the history of Fl hit. We had one hurricane after another. Hurricane Jean gave us a tornado that ravaged my yard, upending many trees and 3 of my precious grandfather oaks, including my big old girl. We watched her fall. And everything else, the property damage, the lack of electricity for almost 2 weeks, the ravishment of our town, did not compare to that tree falling. All my trees died within a week of falling, but my grand girl held on. She didn't look like she was dying. Almost half of her fell in my neighbor's pool, smashing their fence and destroying all their outdoor furniture. But, even after they cut that part away, she was still massive and she was still sprouting green. An arborist came out and was amazed. He said he'd never seen anything like it. Our tree's massive root bulb that was now exposed on its side, had found its way back to the soil and the tree was thriving. Our grandfather oak now rests on its side and all the kids around us come climb on it. Even our big dog can climb up the tree with our girls. And that is my grandfather oak story. Every time I look out my window, I admire that tree. I will never take her for granted. She's worked so hard to stay.
ReplyDeleteThe loss of such a beauty is always heartbreaking. Your poor neighbors.