As you might guess, the dangling tree limb really wasn’t supposed to be where it was...the tree limb apparently broke during last Friday’s stormy weather.

Sometimes, life can throw you a curve ball

Please read this. . .

All of those in favor of a day or two without torrential downpours, hail, strong winds, thunder and lightning, raise your hand...

...with the seemingly apocalyptic weather we’ve been having lately in mind, let’s just figure that sometimes, life kind of goes where you don’t think it might go...

Take last Friday evening, for example. And Friday night. And Saturday. Actually, I think we’ll just kind of take the whole third week of June into account.

Last Friday was, shall we say, a little bit stormy in Little Egypt. So was Saturday. And Sunday. But, you already know that.

At around 4 o’clock last Friday afternoon, we got word at The Paragraph Factory that hail and various weather-related calamities had paid a visit to my hometown. 

In the interest of making sure that our humble abode was still in good shape, yours truly motored to Cobden...at a rather high rate of speed. Upon arrival, it was quickly determined that all was well...

...or so I thought...

...you see, I didn’t actually drive by our humble abode, or I would have seen...

...the large tree limb which had snapped off a sweet gum in tree in our front yard...

...and come to rest on our utility line which brings electricity into our humble abode...

...I discovered the fallen tree limb upon arrival at home on Friday evening.

Upon closer inspection, I quickly determined that...

...we were really lucky that the power line did not snap...and I have no idea why that misfortune did not befall us...

...I also determined that it might be a good idea to make a phone call or two to figure out the next step, or steps...

...our local sheriff’s office was helpful and steered me in the right direction, which involved making a toll-free call to the folks who oversee electrical service to our abode, punching the right numbers shared with me on a recorded message and finally talking to a fellow traveler on The Journey Through Life.

The person I talked to assured me that help would be on the way. (“Help would be on the way” are my own words.)

So, I waited. And watched. And waited. And watched. I figured that the line would snap at some point. Fortunately, the utility gods were watching over our house, and the line held. We continued to have power, so I was able to watch something mindless on television.

Pretty soon, it was dark. And help had not arrived, which was not surprising. After all, we still had power. There were lots of folks out there who weren’t so lucky. 

Well, at about 10:30 on Friday night, the cavalry arrived, in the form of a utility truck and two guys who went right to work. They did what they needed to do, and they did it well. I thanked them. Many times. 

I’m pretty sure the two fellows who came to our rescue had probably put in a long and tough day, but they did their job, and moved on. 

Allow me to go on the record here and say thanks to all of the folks who work so hard to make sure that the lights keep working in some really tough conditions, whether it’s hot and humid or snowy with bone-chilling cold. Our experience has been that these folks have gone above and beyond the call of duty, many times. All I can say is: Thank You. 

Next day, I cleaned up the various tree parts which had fallen in our yard. I quickly determined that a chainsaw would have been nice. With that being said, though, it’s probably a good thing that yours truly was not using a high-powered tool. Such situations often do not have a happy ending. I managed to cut the limb into manageable pieces with a hand saw, and didn’t even hurt myself. Or anybody else.

We had more stormy weather on Saturday. The power actually went out for about three hours. However, no more tree limbs fell on our utility line.

On Monday, the sun was shining. A walk through our yard served as a reminder of how much rain we’ve had. The ground made squishy sounds while I was walking. 

A check of an unofficial rain gauge in our backyard showed that, as of Monday, we’d had 7 3/4 inches of rain over eight days. Seems like that would be enough for a while.

The weather forecast I saw early this week was calling for a chance of more rain on Thursday (today)...and Friday...and Saturday...but at least the winds are supposed to be calm. 

(What happened at our abode was, in some ways, rather insignificant compared to what a lot of other folks in our little corner of the world were experiencing. I really hope that Mother Nature gives them a break. Soon.)

 

    

The Gazette-Democrat

112 Lafayette St.
Anna, Illinois 62906
Office Number: (618) 833-2158
Email: news@annanews.com

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