I'm baaa-aaack! Did anybody notice I was gone?

[magical thyme]

Holy moly! Right about when grasswire asked on Sunday where I was at while getting slammed, I lost power.

It finally came back on sometime this afternoon. I've spent the last 3 nights sleeping on the floor huddled between two doggies in front of the propane backup heater. Thank goodness for my little heater -- co-workers without backup heat have been ffrrrreeeezing!

As of late morning, there will still 19 people on my street without power, and I assumed from work that I was one of them. And then I checked around 3pm, and suddenly my street was off the list of streets still without power!

Phew! I'm eating a snack right now, and then heading into the shower....civilization at last!

[BlueJazz]

1. We were worried sick about you. Glad to know you're OK.

[magical thyme]

2. finding that a tad hard to believe, but thank you :-)

It's so nice to have lights and heat and my 'puter. I still haven't showered. I missed DU

[femmocrat]

3. Glad you are getting back to normal at last!

Been there.... it's no fun.

[magical thyme]

4. the inside damage will be easy fix

already I'm caught up on dishes. This weekend will be massive laundry days.

But outside is another story. I lost an apple tree and possibly my beautiful 12' lilac tree on the edge of my garden. The lilac may survive -- it had 4 major trunks and the biggest of the 4 snapped. My lilac bushes came back from 50% loss a year ago, but I'm not sure a tree can handle that sort of loss, especially at this time of year. My peach tree lost a large branch -- I'm not sure if it was the dead one I was going to prune this spring.

I'm not sure about other trees that may also be lost. I'll have to take more inventory this weekend.

[femmocrat]

5. The lilac should be OK. They are tough!

Mine are huge and I have cut them way back. They keep on growing... but they don't bloom much when you prune them.

Sad about the fruit trees though.

[magical thyme]

6. luckily I have several apple trees

so I don't mind too much losing one. Their apples are pretty mediocre...this will open up space for a nicer replacement. I think my favorite apple tree, which isn't in the orchard but is tucked away in a more protected area, came through ok. I'm not sure what type it is, but its apples are wonderful.

The peach tree already had a very tough year last winter. All the buds dies, so no peaches this last summer and a few branches died. I was hoping after a restful summer it would come back next year. Time will tell...it's given me some wonderful peaches in recent years.