The Sacrificial Tree

This morning I awoke blissfully to the sound of chainsaws. There is one word in the previous statement that is patently untrue. I'll leave you to guess while I give some back story.

I have been sick with the flu for the past few days. On Wednesday night there was a big storm and within 5 minutes of the wind picking up the large tree in front of my house decided to sacrifice a piece of itself to the storm gods. This is not a first; rather it seems to be becoming a habit. Not that long ago...the last big storm actually... this same tree decided to sacrifice a huge branch onto the roof of my house. Luckily, no injuries other than the roof, eaves, and attic. This time another large branch did a storm swan dive. It fell away from the house (thank you) and took down power lines and took up half of the rather busy street on which I live.

This storm took out power for over 60,000 homes in SA, TX, so I was grateful my power stayed on. However, since there were live power lines and a huge tree blockade the police and fire engine parked with lights on right outside my window all night. "Trying to sleep in a disco," as my neighbor Sara so aptly put it. They also put up Crime Scene tape in my front yard...Double Awesome. Right after the tree event I tried (repeatedly) to call the electricity company but it was busy. Finally with my fever spiking and exhaustion setting in I told my neighbors to keep trying and then figured the police and firemen probably had a more direct line to the company...

All day Thursday, my day was interspersed with knocks on the door from guys with lawn agencies ready to chop up a tree that was still mingled with live wires and with sirens from police and fire trucks. I have a sneaky suspicion that no one in these agencies talks to each other. These officials would show up, look at crime scene tape, call back up (more sirens), wander around, set flares, and finally realize they couldn't do anything because of the live wires. That night I finally tried City Public Services (unfortunate acronym, I know) to check on the status of getting these wires cleared.

I explained the situation and that I knew someone else had already reported it, but that I wanted to know if there was any time line for when it would be cleared up... "Um, honey. No one else has reported anything on that street." What? All those sirens and nuthin'? Later that night, CPS did send out a truck and removed the wires. Which brings us to this morning's wake up call. I mean, I'm glad that the traffic will finally quit honking at each other trying to maneuver the tree, but c'mon!

Unfortunately the image at the top of the article is not entirely accurate. This tree still has two huge branches just waiting for the next storm. Will my landlord do something or just wait and see how the cookie (i.e. massive tree) crumbles? Only time will tell.