We even had police!!!
Yup. I said, "Police".
Three separate squad cars showed up.
It was quite a bash.
Now, before you go looking for my mugshot on Ubercity PD's website....I should probably clarify a few things.
1. The entire event was Mother Nature's Idea. We had some grrrrrrande storms....some might say tornados.....whipping through the area.
2. Mother Nature decided that she'd had enough of a certain tree that lived on the corner of my property.
3. That heifer knocked it down.
4. Due to the fact she did not "Begin with the end in mind", she ended up blocking the entire street to thru-traffic.
5. Over the course of the evening, I met a number of my neighbors.
**The lady across the street called me to tell me about the tree. (I'm sure glad I gave her my cell number."
**The couple that live next to Jefe and Javier (my extra-nosy Tejano-music-loving neighbors) came out while I was perusing the damage and offered advice and their help. (Good thing, too. Although I have a TON of experience with facilities, I have never had to be the one to figure out what the hell to do with a downed tree.)
6. I talked to a nice lady at UbercityStreetDept. She said, "I'll put you on the list. Can I have a daytime number where we can get ahold of you tomorrow if we have questions?" Yeah. Pretty sure it's gonna be that long before the city comes out to clear it. Considering all of Ubercity is a mulchpile.
7. More Neighbor Interaction:
**I trucked over to HelpfulCouple's house to ask for help. HelpfulHubby helped me by using his chainsaw to get the branches that were leaning against my fence. (I was afraid another wind would cause the tree to shift and the branches to take my fence away...thereby enabling my pool to be the gathering place for the kiddos.)
**My back-yard-neighbor's-friend came out to commiserate about the loss of The Tree. (He's used to parking his Mercedes under it for the shade. He's definitely lucky it wasn't under there tonight. Mercedes-pancake, anyone?)
6. Not wanting to miss the festivities, Ubercity PD showed up. He claimed it was to assess the situation. At which point, he determined it required super-technical equipment. Cones. Because he was fresh out, he had to call for backup.
7. There was more neighbor interaction:
**TheLadyInTheKnow from down the street told me about ContractorDude who lives further down the street who might be able to help cut the remainder of the tree down.
**ContractorDude's wife and I stumbled through language issues while we discussed the possibility of her husband helping with the tree. He called while I was there....he's out of town for the next week. (Granted, I can't wait that long so he can do the tree. BUT, I can prolly use him when it comes time to do some projects.)
8. Back to the Five-O:
**BarneyFife'sBackup arrived, and brought the cones. Once the officers found out what I do for a living, they tried to recruit me to be a cop. Turns out I could retire in 9 years. Hmmmmmm.
9. I came inside to dry off, and called a tree service. I started the process of waiting on a call back.
10. Because I love telling my mom stories that involve the words, "...and then the police showed up..." I made sure to call TheParentals right away. As I was relaying this story to TheParentals, TheLadyInTheKnow came to the door to tell me that some other neighbors had come out to help clear the tree outta the street.
**DosHombres from down the street had brought HANDSAWS to use to cut the tree to make it movable. They made it look easy. Wow. (They cleared just enough of the debris so that cars could get through. We left the limbs & branches in the street though...so Ubercity will haul it away tomorrow.)
After all the excitement, I finally got to come inside and begin the process of getting ready to leave town tomorrow.
Guess where TeacherBuddy and I are going.
Just guess.
Yep. The State Gymnastics Meet to watch Buggy.
WOOP!!!
SingingGirl will be here house/dogsitting for the weekend. Pray for her that the NeuroticHousepooper does not traumatize her. ha!
~hasta