Tree Fall
By: Doug Bittinger

It was very windy again yesterday.  We had a real windy day about a week ago that knocked the power out for many hundreds of people -- some of them lost power twice because another tree was blown over onto the line that had just been repaired.  In that storm we suffered no damage or even inconvenience.  The power flickered several times, but stayed on for us all day long.

Yesterday we did not fare as well.  We lost power for about an hour, once that was back on we lost the cable - which supplies us with our internet connection, when that was repaired and working for about 45 minutes, our Internet Service Provider went off line, so while we now had a signal coming through on the cable, we still had no internet, e-mail, or telephone.  Then, as I was heading for home I noticed that a tree had come down across the driveway.

Fortunately it hit nothing at all on it's way down, it fell in between a couple of decorative bushes, but hit neither, fell under the overhead electric wires and missed hitting the workshop as well.  Bits and pieces of it were thrown and did hit the shop but no damage resulted.  But it did block the driveway completely, and I had a fellow coming in the next day to pick-up a job.

So, first thing this morning I went out with my chain saw and chunked up the middle portion of the tree trunk to clear the drive.  It was pretty cold out; 31°, and I wasn't dressed for working outdoors in that kind of weather so I quit once that was done.  Tim saw me working on it and came to help; I cut he dragged.  He said he's help me get it all cleared away and piled up later on... once it warmed up some.  We can burn it once the breezes die off enough to be able to get a burning permit.

But, for now at least the driveway is useable again.