Cinco de Arbol
Part I
Dog barking urgently from the basement... check the time : 1:21AM... Puck is already downstairs carrying a crowbar against potential intruders... lift the window shade... dog in the yard now lunatic-barking at what I can't really tell... Puck calls from down the hallway in a calm voice... “A tree is about to fall over on our house” // **jump for the door** “Which tree?”... if it's the trunk of the clipped oak, no one's dying – too far from the house... if it's the weird twisted one in the back... maybe... but Puck is already downstairs again and it's too late... A thundering of a thousand popping things roars through the air towards the house... “GET THE KIDS! GET THE KIDS!” I yell down to Oxbear already down the hall... as the tree shakes the ground... then silence...
Nothing has come through a window or the roof... throw on my bathrobe and rain boots as Puck walks for the side door... “The dog might actually be dead” he notes... run down the stairs to the basement where the door is open to a jungle of very green and very undead – but soon to die – tree blocking the entry... “Egg!” I call for her through the limbs... nothing... “Egg!”... run back up the stairs... there she is somehow – standing in the kitchen knowing she's done her job well...
Everyone is awake now... out back the kids watch as Oxbear, Puck, and I access... dark night... all silent... not even a tingle of breeze... the tree – the tree no one thought was a problem out of the other problem trees in the yard – has pulled up and out of the ground cracked out by its roots... amazingly missing all power lines and cables... only the back overhang of the house has been partly crushed... even Oxbear's smoker seems to have escaped death... best we can figure the ground was so saturated with rain that won't stop... poor old thing just sort of gave up and fell over...
Fire department arrives minutes after Oxbear calls Dispatch... four guys march around back to inspect... “Sorry to have you come out here...” // “No, no... you did the right thing”... end up in discussion with one of them about the various types of trees in the yard... very much a tree nerd...
All clear within the hour... Yali serves the dog two spoonfuls of peanut butter as reward for her bravery... Oxbear shakes Puck's hand and returns his crowbar with a... “Thank you for taking care of things... the firefighters were impressed with your response” **Puck tries not to smile too big**...
Back to sleep sometime after three... regretting the old tree's end (how is it after all leafy friends are lost... only that dumb old sweetgum in the front yard continues to prevail?)... but very thankful...
Part II
Alarm slams on a few hours later...
Oxbear submits an insurance claim...
Patience and myself stack bags with coral reef sculptures and return to the old school to complete another three classes of Pascua dioramas for the grand Expo... completing a total of 25 coral crustacean-ed sea sculptures in total...
Home to throw lunch together... so brain dead I find myself putting a small pot of water into the microwave instead of on the stove...
Drive Patience to her appointment in South County... texts/calls from the boys and siblings about tree clean-up including a call from Puck about the dog horking down a box of chocolate donuts in the kitchen... guess she thought she deserved more for alerting us to danger in the night...
Patience and I stop for ice on the way home to fill a cooler of drinks for the small crowd already gathering in the back yard to help out a house in need...
...including Francis with a chainsaw and Big A stacking limbs and branches and S.P. clipping damaged pieces off the roof... Elmer arrives later to change into work boots and continue hauling... but it's sixty degrees under blanketed sky and it's not a bad day to work in the fresh air and reminders of recent rain...
Those who can, stay for a load of Dominos between other comings and goings and calls and texts... and somehow things just get done...
...and it's after eight and Puck is axe shopping online and Yali is complaining about a sore throat and Patience keeps coming out of bed worried that “the homeless woman at church on Sunday is going to come to her house”...!!