Trees were down everywhere. The sounds of generators and chainsaws were constant. But, we were lucky. The damage wasn’t bad, no one got hurt, and we had supplies to make the next week or so tolerable. I called it ‘glamping’ in my social media posts for a week. With comfortable beds to sleep in and hot and cold running (potable) water, I couldn’t say we had it that bad. It was still stressful. My temper was running close to the surface and other than snapping at people a few times, I kept it together. We saved most of the contents of the freezers.
People were helpful. Some local fellows with chainsaws came by to free Landry’s car from the garage. It had been well and truly blocked in by the fallen tree. We walked around the neighborhood, because there wasn’t much else to do. We had a few family game nights by candle and LED lantern light. Nerdling spent a lot of time outside helping other kids and teens to direct traffic. A north/south road that connects a couple of major streets was blocked solidly by at least a dozen big trees. The kids had to tell people how to get around the blockage. Signs were made and cones were put out. A neighbor got a bunch of safety vests to hand to the volunteers. A family from church loaned us a generator for a few days. We ran the fridge and a few lights off it.
I read books. I got through a couple of Louis L’Amour westerns and an Anne McCaffrey sci-fi novel. It’s been awhile since I devoted much time to reading. I used to read a fair bit, but after the kids started coming, my time went away. Reading used to be an engrossing escape. It was nice to have an escape from having to sit and wait for things to get fixed.
The house has been repaired. I repainted the bathroom which had received water damage. Most of the trees that fell in the yard are gone and we’re going to cut up what’s left for firewood. There are still pieces of massive trees in the right of ways along the roads. The county is slowly making their way around, picking those up. Life is returning to normal. There will be reminders of this around for a while. That’s about all I plan to write on Helene. We had a rough week or two, but we managed well. I’m grateful.
Tuvela Two-Step 