Without this little piece of equipment, I'm not sure what we'd do.
Our generator has enough capacity to run our well pump (so we have water) and it has four electrical outlets to power a limited number of essential electrical things in the house. We are using it for our basement refrigerator and freezer (where the contents of the kitchen fridge are now), a lamp in the family room, multiple fans, a radio, and the TV and DVD player. We are living life in a maze of extension cords, paying particularly close attention to how much power we are using so we don't overload the generator. We have no air conditioning ... with temperatures hovering in the high 90s each day, we are uncomfortable but we are managing.
Our power came back on at about 3:00 this afternoon. (I wrote the above part of this post earlier this morning.) I saw the crew working on the line under the downed tree up the street, and I stopped to thank them. Four days with electricity were definitely a challenge. The a/c is doing a fine job of cooling the house down, and it's WONDERFUL to go into a room and be able to flip on a light!
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The storm was responsible for a particularly heart-breaking loss for us. Our largest oak tree in the front yard, the big beautiful tree closest to the house in the line of three trees beside our driveway, is gone.
The fallen trunk of this tree is almost as tall as I am.
My hands are shaking as I write this, because I still can't quite believe it. This feels like a death in the family. As the tree went down, it took with it a majority of the limbs that were left on the damaged middle tree ... so that one is going to have to be removed, too.
The landscape in front of our house now looks incredibly empty. I am so used to seeing the huge crown of this tree filling the sky ... the bare patch of sky in its place looks so out of place.
I have shown you this tree many times in the past ... it was a supermodel in the world of trees.
What it looked like this spring before it leafed out.
Now it's a heart-breaking heap.
My favorite photo of the three trees in a snow storm.
The same angle today. The picnic table is smashed under the tree limbs.
This huge tree is going to require a tree crew to remove ... and the reputable tree crews are out clearing powerlines and removing trees from people's roofs, so our heap of tree will have to wait for a while.
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Daniel hasn't been feeling well. For the past two months, we have been running him back and forth to the veterinarian for tests ... which have resulted in a confusing list of symptoms, none of which point to a diagnosis. He has been x-rayed, ultrasounded twice, had needle biopsies and blood tests. Through it all, he continues to lose energy. Fortunately, his appetite and attitude are good.
This morning, we were at the specialty vet to see an Internist for a needle biopsy of his spleen. (While I was waiting, I used their wi-fi to catch up on work and email.)
Preliminary results from this latest test may have our answer. The vet thinks that Daniel may have lymphoma in his GI tract. His review of the samples were promising enough to forward them to a pathologist for further review. He told me to expect to have results on Thursday ... I will probably be holding my breath till then.
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I'm not at my best unless I feel like I have some control of my life. With all of this going on, the lack of control has been a recipe for serious stress. I'm doing the best I can to find a way to deal with each of these situations.
We have power again, so there's no more living in the dark.
The tree is gone ... I can't put it back ... I have to make peace with this. It will take some time.
Daniel is comfortable ... he continues to enjoy his food ... and I have every confidence that we will figure out what is wrong with him.
... like I said ... feeling powerless ... but working on getting the upper hand again.