Georgia weather can turn on you faster than a rabid dog.
After supper, around 6 o’clock, Janie, the crew and I watch the movie Low Down starring Robert Duvall. We’re halfway through the movie when the thunderstorm hits.
A hot summer day with a cloudless, blue sky lulls you into a lazy, inattentive state. Within a few minutes the sky turns dark followed by fierce wind gusts and violent sheets of rain pounding the windows.
Okay. No big deal. Late afternoon showers are not unusual.
A safe landing for the Leland Cypress.
I get up to shut the window and we continue watching the movie. Soon I hear “Crack! Crack!” Crack!” I jump up to the window and look out at the back yard. My huge Leland cypress is split right down the middle and half of it is lying across the back door and in front of the bedroom window!
In about 15 minutes the storm passes and I venture out. I see it tore the tops off of several 20-year-old trees in the backyard. Half of a chinaberry tree is in the garden. I go around to the front and find my favorite sittin’-under tree, the redbud I planted several years ago, is ruined.
I start to take a quick check of the house roof and windows, the shed, the fence and . . .
Oh, no! The PTV is parked right in front of the cypress!
I race around to the side of the house and there she is, sitting pretty and unharmed. Whew! Thank God in heaven!
Once a great little shade tree, perfect for taking a break after working in the garden or for long conversations.
Janie checks the damage from the storm.
This morning Janie, the crew and I walk around the property again to get a good look in the morning light.
Surveying the damage to the once great and glorious cypress tree, I am struck by my good fortune.
That tree could have fallen in any one of four places: on top of the shed, on top of the house, on top of the Perfect Tow Vehicle (in which most of my belongings are now stored), or precisely in the relatively small area between the house and the shed.
A twisting, raging wind placed that big tree as if it were setting a fork next to a plate.
Another event that causes me to pause and wonder.
Felix and Julio are back from El Salvador.
Felix stopped by yesterday (before the storm) and I could see right away that his health is back. He looked happy and rested. Felix is one of those guys who works all the time. It’s a blessing for him to be forced to rest, even if for surgery.
We have a lot to be thankful for.
rvsue
rvsue and her canine crew 