Inigo resting up for his next nap (or next gopher hunt)
Wednesday, October 16, 2019 9:30ish pm
I’m watching TV, expecting Inigo to check-in any time now. Usually he does this by appearing in my lap. No huffing, puffing, meowing, or traipsing across the floor noises. He’s a smooth, shadowy, guy.
Chris is not home. She is traveling south on Amtrak’s Coast Starlight train and is now near Klamath Falls, Oregon. She can provide some emotional support for what I’m about to go through, but that’s about it.
The text messages that comprise the heart of this story appear below and are unedited except for one naughty word that I censored.
What is Diana’s name doing in there? No idea. With my mumbling and dithering the dictation software did the best it could. I probably meant for the word to be “dictate.”
There’s at least one typo in there, too, but you’re gonna have to deal. Remember this is the tail end of my day and I’m not at my sharpest.
I have reasons to have expected our small prey to be a gopher, but I’m not gonna get into that.
During the big hunt, when Inigo and I are sometimes only a few feet apart, in a corner, say, I’d try to explain to him what I’m doing in a calm, ordinary voice. Calm, normal voice and no quick, noisy movements from me. I didn’t want him freaking out when I was moving furniture right near him. Good boy Inigo.
Note that the action covers about 2 hours Wednesday evening, and the final words are Chris’s on Thursday Morning.
Our little saga begins that fateful Wednesday night when instead of realizing there’s a 9-pound cat in my lap, I hear some thumping nearby. In the dark living room I see the outline of a black cat who’s almost always hard to see anyway with a dark, fist-sized, object in his mouth.
I turn a light on not knowing what else I’m gonna see and by then the mouthful is gone and the chase is on.
Paul to Chris, 9:46 pm Dear little Inigo brought a gopher into our living room. He was torturing it for a while and then it got away and neither he nor I know where the little critter is now. Yikes!
Chris to Paul, 10:27 pm Oh no!! Good luck!!
Paul to Chris, 10:31 pm Yeah, good luck is right. Inigo and I still haven’t found the little [naughty word censored!].
Chris to Paul, 10:34 pm That sounds horrible. And it’ll be the most inconvenient time. Yuck! I feel very badly for you!
Paul to Chris, 11:21 pm We got him! And I do mean we. I was just starting to Diana response to you and I heard great commotion from the parlor and Inigo was on his trail again.
Chris to Paul, 11:23 pm Inigo would realize where he was and I would then gently methodically start removing obstacles to expose him. Finally I had a chance to smack him with them meter stick. I smote him and then I had a chance to put him out of his misery. I didn’t enjoy that at all.
Paul to Chris, 11:24
Inigo and I turned the living room upside down. Well — I was the muscle, Inigo the brains.
The living room now looks like this.
The corpse; All ready for mounting in the trophy room.
Paul to Chris, 11:26 pm The late gopher looked like this. I think that’s a rat actually.
Paul to Chris, 11:27 Phew!
Chris to Paul, 7:54 am Thursday Wow! THAT was drama! Sounds like you & Inigo were quite the team! I’m very, very glad you guys won the battle. And the smiting. No, it really doesn’t sound like fun (at least for you). But selfishly I’m glad it’s done before I got home.
But I bet Inigo enjoyed going on the hunt with his dad!
This post is my view of days 11-19 of Chris’s trip. The only photos taken during the trip that are in this post were texted to me at the time by Chris. There are thousands of photos taken during the trip they haven’t shown me yet.
Thu Oct 10 This is theIr 2nd day out from Toronto. We pick up the saga where the first post left off — just as our hardy crew is leaving Winnipeg, Manitoba.
That evening Chris and I have a brief, uncertain, call — cell coverage is spotty. I’m able to hear her tell me that it’s snowing, though!
Last 9 days of the trip
Fri 11th C calls from somewhere near Saskatoon. We have an actual conversation! Nice!
Sat 12th Edmonton Jasper Kamloops I don’t remember hearing a bit about any of these places even though I expected some of the best scenery of the entire trip here. Maybe someone will show me a photo or two before long.
Sun 13th Vancouver This was the 5th day out from Toronto, and our intrepid crew finally gets hotel rooms for the night!
Meanwhile back at the ranch, I pick up two library books for Chris and send her a photo of the books for verisimilitude (so she can see that I actually picked them up, didn’t just say I did). I’ve spared readers the photo of the two books. Pretty exciting photo, though. Chris is spared that photo, also, but not by choice! The system has decided somehow she’s unworthy and tells her the photo she’s been trying to download has expired because she dithered so long and now is deleted.
Mon 14th Day spent around and about in Vancouver
I download a book sample to my Kindle app of Mary Elizabeth Williams’ account of her cancer. After the Dedication page, and author’s note comes this “Spoiler ” page, shown here. Got my attention.
Looks like an example of a very leaky magnet!
Tue 15th To Seattle (0900-1245)
First thing for me, I notice small, dark puddle on the kitchen counter near the fridge. I delay my breakfast, figure it out, and restore the universe to its proper order. I am not pleased to begin my day this way. Culprit is a leaky old can of Coca Cola up in the most distant part of the cupboard above the refrigerator.
The rest of day for our travellers is spent around and about Seattle, including a visit to the Space Needle and then dinner at Michelle and Bobby’s house. I send her a photo of where I’ve hidden a house key, because in two days she’s likely to get home when no one’s there and would prefer not to wait for me.
Wed 16th Depart Seattle on final leg of trip 0945 from King Street Station, a grand old station restored to its original 1906 self in 2013.
Grand waiting room at King Street Station
Ready to leave; what does that sign say out on the platform?
Ahhh much better. Good example of the wonders of digital imagery! (i.e., blowing that sign up doesn’t help at all)
SEATTLE (AP) – April 2013 The historic waiting room at Seattle’s King Street rail station has been restored to look exactly as it did when it opened in 1906 with its ornamental plaster ceiling, Corinthian columns, mosaic floor tiles and a massive bronze chandelier.
Inigo resting up for his next nap (or next gopher hunt)
Inigo and I turned the living room upside down. Well — I was the muscle, Inigo the brains.
Inigo and I go on great gopher hunt in the parlor of our house when our crew is near Klamath Falls, OR. Summary and spoiler here: we prevail, and, it wasn’t a gopher but a rat. More details forthcoming in a separate blog post. Best line of the evening is Chris’s: But I bet Inigo enjoyed going on the hunt with his dad!
Thu 17th Second and final day of Amtrak’s Coast Starlight Train down the U.S. west coast
They see a small brush fire right near the tracks near El Capitan Canyon when they’re so close to home. They can see flames, air tankers and fire-fighting helicopters. An alert arrives on C’s phone telling her to evacuate now! They would not have been surprised if their train was delayed (which it was not).
Arrival is right on time, 5:55pm, while I’m recording a Breast Cancer Resource Center panel presentation/discussion at the First Presbyterian Church on Constance.
Jim collects all the travelers and gets some nice arrival photos.
Dang! Front first!
I’d say they look happy to be home. Maybe they had a good trip.
They go out to dinner. Chris arrives home before I do and uses the hidden key. I arrive about half an hour later.
With Diane, Bonnie, and Wayne. Jim and I both stayed home, in case.
The group left Santa Barbara September 29, 2019, and will return October 17.
The Plan, plus notes on the first 11 days of the trip
Note to readers: Captions can be tricky. Anytime you see the first few words of a caption ending in an ellipsis ( … ) it means you’re not seeing the whole thing. You’ll be able to see the rest by just moving the cursor over the words you can see, without moving or clicking for about a second (I realize that’s too long for some of us, but that’s the way it is).
Maybe it’s only half a second.
In slideshow mode, entered by clicking on any image in a gallery or group, full captions are toggled on and off by simply clicking anywhere in the image.
Change trains in Los Angeles and head for Chicago.
Start
When a train comes at me looking like this, I always have to explain to myself that they planned to do it this way!
Brief stop in Los Angeles to spend a little time in Amtrak version of United Air Lines Red Carpet Club before climbing on next train.
Near Raton, New Mexico
First of many shots showing Paul’s kitchen management style
The most significant change around here is I’m now allowed to leave the dishwasher door open. Get the feeling that none of the changes I can wreak in Chris’s absence amount to much?
A sweet, little send-off from Bonnie! If anything, I thought I was ‘spozed to GIVE going-away presents, not receive them!
The world’s largest ear of corn if one qualifies it properly
Olivia, Minnesota (where corn hybridization began) (how ’bout that?!). The claims I’ve recently read for this ear of corn aren’t even worth passing on!
A cute duckling, but why the little guy is here is a long story. It involves long-simmering, ridiculous, tensions between Paul and Bonnie, a movie, a baseball team, and Susan Sarandon.
Purna’s fine (well, obviously missing her mom, though)
Inigo is fine. Both cats are doing fine
High-tech method to keep water in spray mode
Informal, garden hose art
My section of the counter, uncluttered
Art Institute of Chicago, where Chris’s grandmother, Marie, was offered a fellowship but declined it to marry.
Chris takes a special selfie
After two days in a hotel in Chicago, it’s on to NYC
The once grand station that was here when I took the train, the New York Central then, in 1963.
Rochester NY where I lived for 5 years, taken from right in front of station.
Google Earth recreation of Chris’s photo. We’re obviously looking SE down St. Paul Avenue.
We’re bonding
Purna threw up on the bed (yup, both cats continue to be fine)
Remember that scrawny, naked, wrinkly guy in Waking Ned Devine? (Actor David Kelly)
Well, as I was dressing one morning, I caught myself in our mirror and look at that! If we’re counting wrinkles I may have him beat.
Can’t ever decide whether I think this guy is about to pick up that piece of paper or slip on it
Now to Toronto and Vancouver
Two nights in NYC, then three in Toronto, makes five straight nights in hotels.
The Plan for the 5-day Toronto to Vancouver leg
A glimpse of Niagra Falls on the way to Toronto
Chris sends me a couple beer photos?!
How cool is Flying Monkeys Brewery? And a re-order line on the glass? And I’ve always liked the looks of that fleece jacket of Diane’s. What a nice Photo!
Toronto’s famous dog fountain; at least I’m pretty sure someone said it was famous
Stock photo of Toronto’s CN tower
Close enough for Purna.
Nice environmentally responsible way to dry clothes, but — doesn’t this guy wear pants?
Night-night from somewhere near Winnipeg.
That’s the trip as of Wednesday, October 10. Well, on the 11th Chris actually called from somewhere near Saskatoon and we enjoyed an actual (private) conversation but no photos or written words.
Oh, one more thing, I cleaned up both kitty “accidents” about as soon as I took the photos, so you can stop worrying.
I’m posting this Sunday the 13th. They shoulda arrived in Vancouver at 8 this morning. I’d expect to hear from Chris soon.
After Janie Ivey’s initial inspiration in early June I started ruminating on reminders of Kate Ocean. It’s three and a half years now since she died and I’m still reminded of her frequently, and once I started assembling this blog I found my list growing and growing.
Here is a sampling, by no means complete, of these reminders. Their ordering isn’t quite random — the first couple and the final couple are among my favorites.
Valentine’s hearts hanging on ceilings
Valentine’s Day decorations 2013 at old BCRC
The lone heart still hanging on Chris’s and my living room ceiling
Left photo is from 2013. When “B” and I first learned of Kate’s desire to hang hearts from the the ceiling of BCRC (Breast Cancer Resource Center—old location) we thought it was a terrible idea, but Kate persisted and I worked out a way to do it that wasn’t too bad! (Faint praise, eh?)
Shortly after BCRC moved to its new location I wondered if Kate’s and my decorating careers were over. They were. We didn’t decorate for another event.
The right-hand photo shows the lone heart from 2013 still hanging on Chris’s and my living room ceiling. This was my ceiling test area.
The Milpas roundabout
The roundabout at Milpas and the 101 in Santa Barbara
I love the Milpas roundabout at the 101, and every time I’m here I think of Kate who would drive out of her way to AVOID it. Oh well. (Image constructed by Google Earth from photographs and a simulated viewpoint of several hundred feet altitude.)
There are now plants in our kitchen bay window
Kate would want to repot this. Chris would say no, it’ll just grow bigger. Repeat.
In our nice, sunny kitchen bay window we didn’t always have plants. I remember Kate being horrified by our (well, I ‘spoze, mostly Paul) keeping kitchen tools there such as a colander, cheesy plastic containers, and other unworthy items right where Kate knew plants belonged.
On the right is a current photo of a Christmas cactus (gift of Kate Ocean!) that has taken over the bay window. If Kate could see it, she’d say, oh Chris, we need to repot your plant. Then Chris would say, nooo, if you do that it’ll just grow bigger still and then you’ll want to repot it again.
Then, if there was another time, Kate would say, oh Chris, we need to repot … and Chris would say …. I THINK we would all enjoy these scenes!
Most times I drive by her street (either South Voluntario or East Figueroa)
Stopping by her place after picking up flowers from Trader Joes’s
I don’t do this any more, of course, but still it was a little jarring when I realized I’ve mostly forgotten that during her final few years with us, after picking up one or two grocery carts of donated flowers from TJ’s, I’d usually stop at her place on my way to BCRC to drop off a couple of bouquets. I’d usually wind up with a cup of coffee out of the deal, too.
It was in making our simple drop-off arrangements I got adept at sending text messages between our (not smart) phones. I always got a kick out of thinking of the two of us relative old farts comfortably exchanging text messages (we were both so much older than the typical texting demographic!).
Small fish table; and other things
For example: ceramic coaster featuring a very large letter “K”, Christmas plate that “B” and Kate gave us loaded with cookies, Nordstrom towel, Loo sign.
Her Nordy’s towel
Now on Chris’s and my refrigerator
The Loo sign
Now outside my bathroom. I helped
her hang this in her last
two apartments.
Photos
Janey and Kate at a recent BCRC Christmas Tea and Fashion Show
I have a couple hundred photos where she appears, and, of course, any time I see one it’s a reminder; here, with Janie, e.g..
Marshmallow roasting sticks still beside our fireplace
Not a reenactment!
The marshmallow roasting sticks — still here
We used them during the S’mores part of our 2 or 3 Christmas Eves together. I cut them from a bamboo stand in our back yard. In the left photo, which is NOT a reenactment, I’m pretty sure one of the hands is Kate’s. In the right photo, taken a couple of weeks ago, the same sticks are still there, waiting.
And speaking of Christmas Eve …
On the first Christmas Eve at our house with Kate, she and I went out on our back patio to check out the Star Walk app on our iPads and as we were holding an iPad up against the dark sky and inviting the app to tell us about the constellations we were looking at, Santa and reindeer dashed by. They don’t run or gallop, do they? Don’t they dash? How can you not like that? Anyway, in this example these guys are dashing past the constellation Pegasus. The dashed line is the Earth’s apparent path across the heavens. Completely gratuitous feature of the app! Christmas Eve only.
This guy shows up Christmas Eve only!
Any time I pick up either of the Kate photo books I assembled
It’s a concentrated reminder and a real visceral twang.
Any time I think of the Celebration of Kate’s life at the mission
I remember the distinct pleasure of working with a terrific group of others to do the best we could for Kate’s memory, Kate’s many friends, and ourselves.
Mobile hanging in Chris’s room — a birthday gift to Chris from Kate
Begonia photo from our daughter Kate
RB Jr.
RB is from Ruby Begonia, Kate’s name for a begonia Chris acquired from her mother many years ago that is somehow still alive.
RB Jr. is from a cutting from Chris’s plant. She fussed over this little guy a bunch, whose health I felt she somehow connected to her own.
Photo recently arrived (without any prompting) from daughter Kate showing current healthy state of her cutting from RB or RBjr living in Melrose, Massachusetts.
Left: begonia, RB Jr., is shown at Kate Ocean’s Voluntario Street place in about 2013. RB is from Ruby Begonia, Kate’s name for the begonia Chris acquired from her mother many years ago that is somehow still alive despite Chris’s care. RB Jr. is from a cutting from Chris’s plant. She fussed over this little guy a bunch, whose health I felt she somehow connected to her own.
Right: photo recently arrived (without any prompting or any idea that I was assembling this list) from daughter Kate showing current healthy state of her cutting from RB or RBjr that has grown up and is now living in Melrose, Massachusetts.
Trips — At the Santa Barbara airport a couple weeks ago, e.g.
Just before leaving Santa Barbara, I found myself ready to take a socks photo, something I routinely used to do for Kate when I was out of town. Besides a socks photo (especially my heart socks that I came to think of as my travel socks) I’d email a goofy safe-arrival photo, and maybe others. When we returned from trips she’d ask how are the babies? (Meaning the cats.) She seemed to enjoy hearing about our trips, not feel bad because we were reminding her she may not have the wherewithal to do similar travelling.
Reminder from Shutterfly of 7 years ago
Shutterfly emailed this collage to me just a couple of months age.
Collage from Shutterfly
Semi-random reminders from Shutterfly
encouraging me to order prints, photobooks, etc.
I’ve uploaded several thousand photos to their website over the last 10 years, and produced many photobooks and lots of prints of many sizes from them, so they have lots of photos and projects they can remind me of.
This particular group of photos is from Kate and Reggie’s Hawaii trip of October 2010, and BCRC’s annual December Tea and Fashion Show of probably the same year. (No, I don’t know where Shutterfly got seven years ago — may not be worth any time investment doing some math here.)
Annual French Festival in Santa Barbara
Email flyer
She always spoke so fondly of the French Festival. This notice was emailed to me just a few weeks ago, so perhaps as long as there’s an active French Festival in town they’ll be reminding me of Kate every year about this time.
Shoe-changing bench
Shoe changing bench from Kate
I probably see and use this bench of Kate’s more than any of the other reminders but somehow it was the last thing I thought of!
Note to those who might actually read this post: that possibly disparaging comment at the very, very end of this post is actually a link to, and the title of the previous post in this blog site, I do not mean it to say anything about the current post!
Because of a delivery glitch Chris wound up with two, size large, long sleeve, grey tee shirts.
Now I am the proud owner of one of them. Grey isn’t a normal favorite color but free is an excellent price. I expect it to be a good initial layer on occasions.
Photo shows main elements of story: tee shirt with its logo, Chris’s North Face jacket with its logo, tee shirt tag from RedBubble company with washing instructions and world’s sweetest little clothespin.
The folk at RedBubble sound like a friendly, wacky group. The tee shirt logo is an obvious example and both sides of the tag provide others. The obverse claims it was printed by happy people with matching socks. The reverse says: cold wash only; don’t tumble dry: don’t iron print; don’t slap pandas.
I’d like to add another photo here, an enlarged shot of obverse and reverse sides of tag, but free version of app won’t allow it. I don’t think I’m going to buy the app.
But I’m writing these few lines on my kingmouse.blog blog and now I can add all the photos I want!
“happy people with matching socks” sounds pleasantly wacky to me!
“Don’t slap pandas”
Huh?
The tee shirt, the tag, and the sweet little clothespin are amusing for a minute but this is overdoing it.
This entry is a good example of writing up something up that isn’t worth it! After a good start here, I began to get that sinking feeling that I was pounding this topic to death.
Post here as an example of something I wouldn’t want to do again.
Location: 324 N Soledad St, Santa Barbara, CA, United States
Title? Yes. First entry
Still bold? No.
Photo is of letter I sent off yesterday to Jamile in jail at WCCC on Oahu.
Saturday 20190309
Is this only a caption or is this the text of this first entry?
Still can’t tell. Awfully good reviews of this app but $24.99/yr would immediately make it my most expensive app.
Chris is now sleeping in her reading chair. Time is 1459. Rare for her to sleep. If she could see herself she would appreciate my not taking a photo! Just woke up and returned to her book. About a 20 minute nap.
Won’t pony up for the premium app yet. Want to feel out the free version first. Tempted though.
No idea why this is March 8 entry and not March 9.
I’m about to get back to Andrea’s poster. Our poor pepper tree incident distracted me for a couple of weeks, maybe more.
Early in the evening of January 26, 2019, my life is interrupted by a notification on my iPad from Instagram informing me a new photo is available. After a few clicks there are Sophie and Mason in his Seattle backyard all dressed up about to head off to the Winter Ball.
Sophie and Mason
Inspiring photo I’m thinking. I set up the tripod, change a couple of items of clothing, twist the little woman’s arm (or did she twist mine?) and a few minutes later a second photo of the evening is produced. [Warning! Warning! Passive voice used. I’m not ‘spozed to do that, right?]
There was something about the pants Mason was wearing. Couldn’t resist a photo response.
It turns out that Mason saw our photo before he saw his own, and it wasn’t obvious to him that Chris and I were just trying to look like him and Sophie.
Dad Bobby figured the situation out pretty quickly and sent appropriate photos to appropriate people right away.
John asked me couldn’t I have even ironed my pants?
My jams? I asked back. These jams have been in my wardrobe for years but they’re not as old as Mason.
Lotsa likes to mom Michelle for posting photo of S&M on Instagram; lotsa friendly smartass email replies to me.
Everyone kept to their own preferred mode of communication with enough overlap to still communicate just fine.
Works for me.
Update November 25, 2019
We do it again! Here’s another pair of relevant current photos. Well, the Mason and Sophie photo is current by any normal consideration (if you’re a nuclear physicist and it’s more than a billionth of a second ago then it might not be current, but nuclear physicists are a strange breed). The photo of Chris and me is only 18 years old so that’s pretty recent — after all, she and I still look just the same.
Mason & Chris; June 2002, Portland
Actually, Mason was in attendance at Andrea’s wedding in Portland in June 2002 where the above picture of Chris and me was taken. He was a wee bit younger then and probably doesn’t remember.
Bucolic scene? I’d prefer bucolic with cows but this is gonna have to do.
But we digress. No, actually, we get ahead of ourselves. First, I need to show you the peaceful scene (above) from last November where there’s lotsa shade from the south trunk of the tree that we’re saying goodbye to in this blog post. Clothes appear to be happily drying on a line suspended between fence and anchor point on the house.
Wednesday, February 6, 2019
Three months later, as I’m innocently starting to hang up clothes I notice the pepper tree branches are even lower than shown in the photo above –– in fact they’re interfering!
Yes, something is very wrong. (Very perceptive Paul!)
Chris and I don’t panic. The philodendron that usually threatens Chris’s head and shoulders as she leaves the garage has been underfoot the last couple days but she doesn’t think much of it. My funky system of suspending the plant between the two pepper tree trunks with baling twine, bamboo and an old seatbelt failed. (My funky systems have been known to fail before.)
How much crunching is going on up there?
That gap is new!
Thursday, February 7, 2019
I call the arborist we’d worked with 20 years ago when building the garage. He refers us to a company who actually does work on trees, not just consult, A and J Tree Company.
John (the “J” presumably) stops by about noon to assess. He returns about 4 pm because our tree keeps bothering him. John declares an emergency! He really doesn’t want this tree to shift and crunch the garage any further, so he starts right in trimming to lighten the load on the garage. A couple of other guys soon join him and by dark there is a whole lot more sky visible.
Ooooh! That really doesn’t look good!
I don’t see any damage from the inside but ya gotta wonder.
How high was that big limb before?
A view into the shadows of the November 2018 photo. That big limb was at least 2 or 3 feet higher than it is today!
Other limbs threaten!
Something very familiar about the sound in this 7 second video –– and we will be hearing that sound a lot tomorrow (Friday).
World’s longest chain saw in action on our tree!
Still shot of world’s longest
Skyline is changing over garage!
Garage has gotta be feeling some relief!
Friday, February 8
Four guys from A & J spend all day crawling all over our garage and our tree — we’re in good hands. What’s more they’re hardworking, cheerful and friendly — even into the grumpy late-afternoon hours (well, it’s that way those hours can be for me!).
They protect the garage by slicing off small-enough chunks of the limbs so they can grab the chunks with ropes or arms or both and move them away from the roof before dropping them to the ground. Homeowners like to see that sort of care.
Early Friday conference
Garage protection
The other ends of these ropes are on branches still threatening garage.
Garage has been liberated!
You can’t tell from this photo but enough weight has been removed so the trunk has actually lifted back up a few inches and no limbs are now touching.
Six chain saws!
And I haven’t seen the world’s longest since Thursday.
John’s son-in-law is the aerial man!
He’s about to cut some more carrot slices off the trunk. I keep thinking of this approach as gumming the problem to death, but it’s both very simple and very effective, two highly desirable qualities.
Just a few more carrot slices!
Branches about to become chips
Final roof clearing
Some of the sawdust got blown under shingles and I’m hoping that won’t cause problems later.
Raining sawdust
Look at all those carrot slices!
Largest diameter carrot slice I can find
Saturday, February 9
John and wife Victoria are the only ones to appear. They’re here to load the chunks of tree I don’t want and remove them from our lives. Sure is a sweet, little grabber vehicle he’s got and he makes sure, by carefully spreading out sheets of plywood, not to rip up our side yard with its tracks.
On Saturday, Chris and I enjoy meeting Victoria, John’s wife. She’s obviously been at work sites before.
Only tweaked shingles-phew!
These tweaked shingles shown in the center of this photo comprise the extent of our garage damage we can see. Phew! We feel lucky. The tree must have chosen to ooze rather than topple onto the garage.
Additional damage
Our patio area right beside the Pepper tree. The near crack across our bricks has been there for many years, not nearly this pronounced, though. The second crack, toward the center-right in the photo, is new. Even so, we’re not losing sleep over this.
This is stark!
Compare with the shot from last November. The word bucolic does not come to mind now.
Current look of garage and tree
The other half of our tree is still here, and probably more secure, now, but here’s another shot showing a pretty naked garage.
I’m glad damage from the tree is very slight and the cost will be pretty much limited to the cost to remove the south trunk of the tree, but Chris and I really liked that tree and I feel some sadness to have so much of it gone. It was a friend.
