Not A Great Week So Far; One More From The Lancaster Road Trip

Four mules will get the job done. (click to enlarge)
Olympus E-M1 Mark III; 300mm f/4 PRO lens; 1/1000th sec. @ f/5.6; ISO 200

In the wee hours Tuesday morning, Tropical Storm Isiasis (I still can't pronounce it) roared through our area and the eye passed almost directly over our home.  I've been through probably 30 tropical storms and hurricanes in my 47 years living in Virginia but the winds from this storm were stronger than I've experienced.  Also, I cannot remember the worst of the winds ever coming from the south.  They always came from either the east or west.  But we were just a mile or two east of the center of the storm and that would explain it.

We had some property damage, mainly about a third of the top of a large maple tree was lost as some four very large limbs (8-10" in diameter) appeared to have been twisted off.  As I said, the wind was coming from due south but curiously the limbs fell south (into the wind) and west toward our home.  That large limb was resting on our deck but no apparent damage.  The attached foliage appeared to have cushioned its landing.  

I've been wondering if there was cyclonic or rotating action to the wind instead of just straight line winds.  We were under a Tornado Warning at the time and we had about 10 tornadoes touch down in the region.  Also, the the top 10-12 ft. of a large poplar tree in our back yard was broken off and sent flying north.  With winds roaring from due south, we had two limbs fall south, one fall west and one fall north.  Strange.  

Luckily no damage to our home that I have found.  A bit of damage to our outbuilding.  The yard (garden) was a mess.  I spent 4-5 hours Tuesday and yesterday cleaning it up.  Of course, the post storm weather was in the 90s with a dew point in the mid 70s.  In other words, very hot and humid.  Luckily, we only lost power for 12 hours.

The cutting up, grinding and removal of the limbs from our trees cost almost $2000 US.  I wasn't ready for that!  The extra cost, it seems is because of the extensive work high up in the maple tree that had to be done to save it.  If possible, I want to save my trees.  But, as in a capitalist system, supply and demand rule and when there are hundreds of trees down and the demand for goods or services rises, prices rise as well.  

Couple that expense with the planned repair of one of our HVAC systems that just happened to be scheduled for yesterday and you can add another $2600 US hit to my bank account.  

On the positive or fortunate side of things, I had purchased a new vehicle in May (a carefully calculated pandemic purchase with huge discounts since, in May, the automobile industry's sales were down about 40-60%).  Where I normally park that vehicle in my driveway was where one of the large limbs fell.  The evening before the storm hit, I decided to move the vehicle "just in case."  Well, that was a fortunate decision as my new vehicle would have been smashed!  Blessing duly counted.

So, the upshot of all this is I've been really busy trying to restore our property and lives to their normal states and really don't have a post finished for today.  I hope you don't mind.  I should be back on schedule next week.  Until then.

In the mean time, here is another image from our Lancaster County, Pennsylvania road trip.  

Join me over at my website, www.dennismook.com. 

Thanks for looking. Enjoy! 

Dennis A. Mook 

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