Uglyhead

When returning from a long trip or vacation, the thought always runs through my head as I enter the subdivision, “What if something happened to the house while we were gone?” Every time I pull into the driveway things seem just as we left them. You can strike that last sentence as a tree landed on our house today; except that we are still away. Apparently, the tree fell during some high winds that preceeded a heavy thunderstorm.

After spending the week at our denomination’s annual “business” meeting, we left early this morning for my family’s annual reunion in Pennsylvania. We stopped often to allow Pamela to move around (doctor’s orders). At one such stop in Hagerstown, MD, at an outlet mall where I was trying to replace a belt that I forgot to pack, we received a series of phone calls from both friend and family. The kids were acting horrible at the time, so I ignored the first couple attempts. Then I finally figured out that something was wrong and picked up.

“The neighbor’s tree fell on the corner of your house above the master bedroom closet,” my mother-in-law informed me. Pam must have thought someone died with the look I gave her as I backed up and sat down on a bench. “The neighbor across the street heard a crack and saw that it hit your house. She knocked on the door and then started calling people to track you down.”

Thankfully, Albert and Karen (and K’s family) came to the rescue and inspected the damage for us first hand. They also took pictures of the aftermath. The top of the tree hit the edge of the eave and then scraped down the side of the house. There is damage to the roof overhang (i.e., the soffit portion of the roof was ripped off) and the siding is scraped to where it will need to be replaced. A little daylight could also be seen from inside the attic where the main branch hit, so the neighbor who called us said that her husband would secure plastic to the roof to try to prevent water from leaking in.

We are so grateful for the help we received. Otherwise, we probably would have had to turn around and drive back home the six hundred odd miles we had just come. Instead, we were able to continue on our journey. I am, however, anxious to return by Monday. I hope that we can enjoy our time with family this weekend. The neighbors whose tree it was that fell–a couple about our age or younger–are also out of town this weekend. The husband’s mother stopped by to pick up the mail and said that she would let them know immediately what happened and that they would be contacting their insurance company.

As bummed as I am, I would hate to be in our neighbors’ position. I could get myself worked up over their negligence, because the tree was clearly in need of being taken down. It turned out to have a hollow trunk, too. However, we have several trees in our backyard that are also clearly dead. It could have just as easily been our tree lying on their house. The fact that we have been getting estimates over the last few weeks on having them removed would have been moot. Another coincidence is that the man’s father happens to be a professional tree cutter. However, he has been taking chemo treatments and has not had the energy and time to help his son cut down the tree. Perhaps through this strange set of circumstances we can get to know our neighbors better and be an encouragement to them? They certainly need it right now.

Update - Bert posted photos of the damage on his blog.