It fell down!

last night we had quite a spectacular storm. the lightning was incredible, the rain fell in sheets of water, slapping the windows all around our house. our dogs were freaked out. scooter got diarhea from the nervousness... yeah, our dogs have anxiety issues. the canal behind our home flooded, and broke, pouring water into our community streets. it turned the roads into rivers. it was "take-out-garbage" night, so there were dumpsters floating down the streets, and trash everywhere.

after the storm calmed down... chiyang went out to assess the damage... unbelieveable, our one sturdy ficus tree, the one that has been so lush and faithful to shading our home got toppled over!!! it fell over, completely blocking poo-alley (where our dogs poop). so just imagine the doggies anxiety levels when they realized they can't go where they usually go. but noooo... that's not the part that's the problem.

problem is, everyone everywhere has trees down. some on top of their homes, some with 80-ft trees blocking their street, some with trucks so big they have to get tractors in to roll them off after their trucks get chopped up!!! it's insane!!!

i've called around to get estimates for restoring our tree, and i am having a hard time getting through the phone lines. and when i do, no one wants to commit to a price or really want to show up after i tell them the size of my tree. it's so insignificant to them... but it's my one faithful pretty tree. all the others have not been as faithful and useful and maint-free and pretty and happy as this one.

so now we are looking at about $150 in restoring it... sigh... so much for a tree... one tree! but i guess it's worth it.

lord, thank you for the rain, we needed it. but my tree...? maybe you thought it was time we got a landscaper/gardener in to tidy up our yard. thanks!!! i know, i guess our cheap-o-rama streak had to end sometime...