Tree Downed In Woodlawn (Ours)

Microburst Damage

7:00

 I was up at 7:00, to an overcast sky, a yard filled with branches from our tree, hit yesterday afternoon by a microburst and three quarters of an inch of rain.  It's cooled off some, 68º outside, a high later in the day of 77º.  I was able to get in touch with our Amish tree guy, Malan Troyer, and he said he would be by this morning to clear the debris and down the rest of the tree.  It looks like a noisy and expensive morning on the lake.

Yesterday was uncomfortably warm, humid with the highs around 86º by mid afternoon.  Evie spent much of the morning prepping our dinner and fortunately, because we keep the windows closed during the day, the house felt like it was air conditioned.  I worked outside, edging and weeding our brick walk way, taking my time and waiting for shade.  It's a slow process, digging out moss, weeds and grass but must be done a couple times a year.  Despite sitting down, I worked up a sweat and was hot enough to jump in the lake to cool off, twice, as it took me a couple of hours of weeding.  Meanwhile, Evie was making the kofte's, the baklava, setting the table, all the stuff you forget about which takes time.  She was able to relax some on the dock in the afternoon but it was so warm that it was not as comfortable as usual.

Microburst

The sky began to cloud at 4:00, threatening clouds and weather reports made us uneasy.  And then the winds came, as I stepped out on my back porch.  I heard first the sounds, then the winds building as they came towards our yard, then branches began flying off of our willow, then as the wind increased, I heard huge cracks, and three or for huge branches from our maple, fell into our yard as the microburst passed through our side yard. It seemed to limit its damage to our yard and our neighbors.  We were fortunate in that it did not hit either of our houses, even missed our yard furniture.  I quickly called our tree guy, thinking their might be damage in other places and I wanted to get my name on his list.

Topped By Nature

Our company was coming at 6:00 and, of course, the electricity went out and we were not sure when it would come back on.  So we prepared for cooking dinner outside on the grill and on a camp stove. We also got out candles and lanterns, thinking we might need them.  Fortunately, it worked out well. When the Heinz's and Gregory's came, the electricity was still out but it was light enough to enjoy cocktails on the front porch.  Charlie mentioned that he had seen a transformer, blown off a pole and burning, the cause of the black out.  Just as we were beginning to think about dinner, the electricity went back on, we all gave a cheer, and Evie started warming things up on the stove, and I cooked the Turkish koftes in the garage because it started to rain again.

Porch Drinks With The Gregory's and Heinz's

Our Turkish dinner was great. everyone seemed to love the Iskender kebabs, toasted pita bread topped with spicy koftes, tomato sauce, and yogurt.  We also had salad with a tahini/lemon/garlic based salad dressing which I really like.  And to finish the dinner, we had breaded eggplant as a side. We had the usual discussion of our wonderful grandchildren, then moved to cemeteries and whether we should be writing our obituaries, the kind of topics only found at a table of  couples in their 70's.

We finished the night with baklava, Turkish tea in our living room, and I mentioned a topic bound to arouse the emotions among Chautauquans, the Save The Amp movement that is creating all kinds of controversy in the community, tearing it apart in a way, which is unfortunate.  Of course, the six of us are the only reasonable one's, with all the facts.  And like all controversies, there are all kinds of rumors, as facts are either forgotten or pushed aside, giving way to passion and emotion and for some, an uncompromising certainty.  It's becoming a microcosm of our  government, of the Middle East, of the world, as people with opposing interests and ideas, find it difficult to compromise or reach a satisfactory outcome.  It's going to be a hot summer.

Well, the tree guys are here, gave me the bill, and they are going to start grinding, waking up Woodlawn!