So we are settling into our new home, the cabin we’ve expanded, and things have been finding their places and other stuff has been tossed or donated or given away. Amid all this, we had a tornado a block away. Trees are fallen, twisted, uprooted, barn roofs hang from trees and the Calderwood sign is nowhere to be found. South of us high winds demolished cabins all along the coast. We have trees down and topped. The large old oak in front that gives such nice shade is split and will need professional help. I think I can handle the other tree that is split. In back, there are many downed trees. I have cleared almost all the fallen trees from our neighbor’s property and now it is a matter of nibbling away at what’s down, a couple of hours here and couple of hours there. That’s in addition to trying to rectify the damage down at the lake. The first windstorm broke a wheel off a dock section. I got help to pull that section and was able to replace the bracket that holds the leg. That dock section is ready to go. HOWEVER, in re-aligning the dock (by myself, of course) I managed to break off a leg on the platform, so I’ve got some young guys coming–probably today–to heft the platform out of the water so I can see what needs fixing. It’s an awkward thing to move in any event, even when it’s “healthy”. Right now the pontoon is tethered to the dock and anchored from the north so it doesn’t keep smashing against the dock, shoving it as before. The storm and its effects, with the pontoon pushing the dock, moved it south about six feet. There was one good sized tree down at the lake and I hacked up most of it. Someone else finished the job. Even the new clothesline was demolished by a flying tree branch. The TV antenna mast was bent in two. All in all, though, considering the rest of the neighborhood, we got off easy. We believe the Lord protects us.
So that has been my major excitement, slowing down what other plans I might have had. Today the woodstove gets its chimney installed. The guys are working now to bore a hold through the cement block wall in order to run the chimney outside.I would have preferred to have the chimney be a straight shot–less creosote–but there is no room inside the house to run a chimney.
I still have a new story on the tip of my brain. I have the beginning and a general direction but I’m not sure where it will go from there. Characters have a way of doing their own thing, so I’ll find out when I can put aside the time to sit and begin to write it down.
Daughter Alice–known to me as “Kid Number Three”–is doing a charity show August 10th. I got tickets yesterday, making fewer than 30 seats left.