The Big One

It was a wild day. We ventured out to the grocery store when the rain seemed to stop for a bit, and then detoured to look at the ocean. Standing in this familiar place was nearly impossible because of the wind, which nearly blew us over. That’s not just a figure of speech—we had to work at standing upright. A bit further down the road and access to our usual walk was blocked because of the threat of high waves, falling trees and more wind. We figured the best bet was to just go home and forego the sightseeing. 

As it turned out, there was quite a show right from our front window, looking at the palm trees across the street. Again, the wind was so strong I could barely stand when I stepped out to take a couple photos. The sky was so blue and clear, which was absurd, as it started to rain again within minutes. The trees were swaying and tossing great fronds and pieces of bark; the Extra shows some bits in mid-flight. In just a few minutes there was a man-high pile of debris in front of their front door—no way in or out. As far as I could figure no one was hurt and nothing got broken. I did hear that others were not so lucky around town: trees and branches down, power out here and there, lots of water.

The fiberglass panels on our carport were flapping in the wind where the nails had come undone. Wham! Wham! Then quiet. Then Wham! again. I was hoping they wouldn’t fly away before Treekeeper could get here to save the day. It was a ladder job, or I would have tried to fix it myself. But it held, and he nailed everything down securely, and we made a yummy plate of fresh pasta and all is well in our immediate world. As an arborist and manager of a tree service, ol’ Treekeeper is going to have a busy work week starting tomorrow; he’s already getting calls about downed trees and fallen branches. 

There is a lull right now, but more storm is expected tonight.