Well, it has been a LONG week here in N. Michigan. This past weekend we were hit by quite a storm. Here is our story.
It was already a busy weekend for Bud as he was moving his office from the downtown location to a place on Garfield Ave. The owner of his downtown office building was expanding and needed more space for his employees. Bud was on a month-to-month lease because they were very relaxed about signing leases and they came to him and asked him to find another office. They gave him ample time to look around so he wasn't 'kicked out'. However, he did get right to work and checked out the available office space. He realized that he really didn't need to be downtown and if he looked out a little ways from downtown the rent was a little less. He found this office space just south of her and probably a little closer to home with definitely less traffic to deal with on his way to work.
It turns out that this office building was the same building that he was in about a year after he started his career in public accounting.
So this is the back door of his office building, right where he used to enter when this was an office for his old firm. It is a nice building and even though it was a LOT of work to arrange the move, he is in his office and has 'purged' his files. Moving always helps you do a little cleaning out of your space.
Bud was in his old office last Sunday when the STORM hit this area. I was home alone, not really paying too much attention to the weather until it started to get dark here. I have always loved to watch storms so I placed myself in front of the windows for a great view. I did call Bud to tell him not to try to come home in the storm and he did tell me to get away from the windows. I complied a bit but was still watching closely as the waves of wind and rain swept up the hill and rushed against our house.
And then one of the tall trees decided to break off a section of the tree. We have very tall trees in our area and while the wind was blowing the hardest the tops of the trees move back and forth, swaying more than you could possibly think. This one tree gave away and a large section broke off. It did miss the main part of our house but caught the corner of our deck, taking off part of the railing.
Here you can see the tree that broke off. As soon as the storm was over the whole neighborhood came out of their houses to check out the damage. That big 'gash' in the tree is where the section of the tree broke off. The tree that remains will be weakened so it will also have to come down when we have a professional come and clean up some of our trees.
You can see from this view that we were lucky that it wasn't worse. We cleaned up the next day and all that is left in our yard now is the large main section of the tree, waiting for the chainsaw to cut it up in smaller pieces to be split for firewood.
We were actually pretty lucky when it comes to damage in our subdivision and definitely in our area. This is a picture of a tree that was uprooted in Sue and Walt's back yard. It is resting on their garage. Many other homes have uprooted trees in their yard and the streets were littered with downed branches.
Of course, our power was out. We were without electricity from Sunday afternoon until Wednesday morning. We were thankful for our friends Larry and Kathy because they still had power on the west side of town and they gave us their guest room for three nights. What wonderful friends.
I came back home during the daytime, even without power. I did manage to find things to keep me busy like cleaning up, having lunch with friends and going to my quilt group to help with making some weighted blankets for our area special education classrooms. This is a picture of some of the wonderful ladies in our group, busy at working on those blankets.
Tuesday was my birthday so we headed to Applebee's in Big Rapids to celebrate with the Michigan family. Eva bought me a wonderful sweater set.
Jessica and Doug were so nice to bring their lovely little one for me to see. I hadn't seen her since our houseboat trip. She is such a sweetie.
And she is growing and growing. I am amazed at how wonderful she is. She has great parents too.
And here you have the whole 'clan'. This is a great tradition, meeting for birthdays. I am thankful for such a wonderful family.
Then on Thursday we set out on the boat to enjoy a late afternoon sail. It was a little chilly and the wind was brisk so we had to 'reef' the main and wrap up to keep warm. It still was a great evening to sail.
Charlotte was our 'inspiration' for going out sailing and she brought along a friend. I am also very thankful for this wonderful family.
Well, our power came on Wednesday so we were back home but the internet provider was MUCH slower getting service to us. Charter Communications had a LONG and SAD story about why they couldn't get our servicer up and going. I think it is just because they aren't as prepared and probably don't care as much, but that is just my opinion. Anyway we didn't our cable back until late Sunday afternoon. YES, we realized we probably depend on that service too much and probably watch too much TV but we are now thankful to be back 'online'. Being without cable and internet for a few days is a 'pain in the butt' but we are thankful for minimum damage here at our house.
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