After last Tuesday’s ice storm, our power came back around 4PM on Friday, which meant we were without electricity for about fifty-eight hours. And we were fairly lucky because there are still nearly 25k people without power as of this morning.
We tossed most of the stuff from our fridge and freezer. A few things at the bottom of the cooler stayed frozen enough to save, but mostly it was a total loss. After that fun time, we turned our attention to the trees.
We bought a battery-powered chainsaw after snowpocalypse, and this year we added a powered pole trimmer. We got the most dangerous dangling limbs down, but we need an arborist to really get up there and fix the live oak in our front yard. We’re on the waitlist, but I expect it’ll be a while.
We also have some big trees down in our backyard, which is less a yard and more just native trees and scrub clinging to a steep, rocky hill. A couple of cedars fell over and took out a swath of smaller trees, and a few others lost massive branches. We cut up the branches on the ground, but we need pros to deal with the bigger stuff and the limbs still in the air.
While we were surveying the damage, I slipped and fell on a steep section and bruised myself. I’m fine, it was mostly my pride that took the damage, but bruises really were just the cherry on top of this week. :(
Every house on our street has a huge pile of brush on the curb, waiting for pickup. And driving through the neighborhood, it’s the same everywhere. The city is planning to pick it all up, because they use the brush for mulch and composting, but I can’t imagine how long it’ll be before they get to everyone.
The first picture above is our brush piles, not including the big trees we couldn’t handle, and the second picture is our neighbors’ across the street. It doesn’t look so bad until you realize all of those piles are huge. You can use the vehicle in the second picture to get a sense of scale.
To make matters worse, we’re expected to get another storm on Tuesday. Thankfully no ice this time, but there could be “damaging winds” which isn’t great with the amount of broken branches still barely clinging to the trees.
I’m trying to get back to writing this week, since last week was mostly a loss. I had plenty of time, but stress isn’t exactly conducive to creative endeavors. For me, at least.
But I’m having fun working on a tiny little secret project that I’ll hopefully wrap up in the next day or two, then it’s back to the fantasy romance. I’m pretty sure I left those characters in a precarious situation, so I guess I need to go rescue them. :)
Oh, and if you have a chance, the Swoon Awards are happening now, and both Hunt the Stars and Eclipse the Moon made it into the semi-finals! (Thank you!!! 😍) If you want to help decide the finalists, vote here. You can vote for up to five of your faves in each category and skip categories you haven’t read, so it’s easy peasy!
Uh, I think they wrote they would reveal the finalists on January 21, 2022. 2022?
Not sure where you’re seeing that, but I’m assuming it’s a leftover from last year. According to their site, these are the dates:
Nominations: January 16th – January 30th
Semi-Finals: February 6th -February 17th
Finals: February 20th – March 3rd
Winners Announcement: March 6th
So sorry you all have had such a rough time of it with the ice storm! Hopefully, that’s it for this year.
Hey Jessie,
I’m so sorry about your trees. I’m from a part of California that keeps getting whacked with storms and my neighborhood of full of old elms. Every time I call my parents to check on them I’m terrified that they’ll tell me one of the trees has fallen down on someone’s house.
Insert not so clever segue here, do you know when you will be able to release the second CtS chapter? Also do you know if the secret project will be finished in time to release with CtS?
The secret project isn’t tied to CTS, so it’ll hopefully be sooner. And I usually release the second chapter a few months out from release, so probably next month. :) Hang in there!
Done! :)
Not only did I get to vote for your book (and IA’s since I was there anyways :) I found a whole bunch of new books to try!
Sorry about all your trees. Stay safe out there.
Did you consider trying hugelkultur? Great way to use up brush and end up with a better garden to boot. It’s especially good for areas with hot dry summers… the decaying wood holds onto moisture from the rainy season and releases it into the soil when the rain stops.
Bob has a good basic overview: https://www.bobvila.com/articles/hugelkultur/.