Okay, So Maybe We Didn’t Get Off So Easily After All

Well, as of yesterday, things were looking pretty good. Our house came out okay, barring a whole lot of cleaning up (I’m still sore from all the work we’ve done — and that’s just a start). Even my folks’ place at Lake Anna is salvageable (assuming that level alarm problem is just a glitch). Then, yesterday afternoon, we got the first bit of bad news: It turns out our day-care provider’s house has been condemned, thanks to a kitchen fire when the power came back on. I don’t know what your impressions are, but the word “condemned” leaves me a little worried. “Damaged,” okay, I figure repairs will get under way, nothing dramatic. But condemned? That does not sound good. In any case, for the moment, we have nowhere for our older daughter to go after school (our younger is in a separate, all-day day care/preschool). And naturally, my folks — our usual backup — will be busy coordinating cleanup and repairs. Guess I’ll be doing a little schedule-shuffling for the next month or so.

And then, this morning, we looked out the front window to find that our Bradford Pear tree had collapsed — completely. Ripped off at the trunk base. It seems a little ridiculous that the thing survived Isabel only to get knocked over by a little wind and light rain; I know, I know, it was no doubt weakened by the hurricane and this little bit of added moisture just made it finally give way, but still, it seems a little bizarre. Losing the kids’ “swinging branch” out back was one thing, but this was their climbing tree. Not to mention that it afforded us some welcome privacy; now our front windows look right out on everybody else’s front windows. I can’t even start cleaning up the tree tonight, since one, my father (and his chainsaw) are still down at Lake Anna, and two, I’m going to an invitation-only wine tasting this evening (la-di-da). Thankfully, the tree’s not blocking that much of the road.

And on top of everything else, I got stuck in a two-and-a-half hour commute this morning. I am so not happy right now.