Awww CRAP!!

[Thumper]

My neighbor came over about an hour ago and told me he couldn't get his car out of his garage. When I asked why, he pointed toward my driveway. I stepped outside and there's a frigging oak tree on top of my *%$#@$%&& truck! I just had the top fall out of an oak last week ... this is a totally different tree! Sheeesh, when it rains, it pours! I asked if he had to get out of his garage tonight and he said that he was just gonna go down to buy a lottery ticket, so it's no big deal ... UNLESS the numbers he was gonna buy turn out to be winners ... THEN he'll kill me! ;)

Looks like the tree fell right between our houses. It took the gutter off the corner of his house and fell across his driveway, blocking his garage door. The other half is resting on top of my truck in MY driveway. :(

I don't even want to look at it until morning. My other neighbor is bringing his chain saw over in the morning to cut a path so my next door neighbor can get out of the garage ... then he'll cut whatever he needs to so I can move my truck. Then, we'll assess the damage. First thing I'll do is take pics for the insurance company (before we move anything).

We had our usual afternoon thunderstorm roll through this evening ... a bit heavier rain than usual, but nothing too exciting. No wind to speak of. Dang, one last week and this one tonight. WTF is it with my trees all of a sudden? I just got the mess cleaned up from the last one. It doesn't help matters much that we're supposed to be headed out tomorrow night for a weekend at the beach. DANGIT!

[Arty]

Remind me not to move in next to you.
You're luck ends with estate sales and eBay. ;)

[Sunshine]

Told you this holiday is cursed.
You wanted a new truck didn't you!!

[Thumper]

I "may" get real lucky ... won't know 'til daylight. It's basically the top of the tree covering my truck. I'm sure nothing is smashed, but there are most likely scratches at minimum. As long as it's not through the paint, I have a buddy with a detail business who could most likely fix me up. BUT ... the way my luck runs, there's a big limb in there somewhere that will screw up my hopes of minimal damage. Dang! That truck is going on 8 years old but only has 19,000 miles on it. You KNOW it's simply an "old" 8-year old truck as far as the insurance company is concerned. I sure hope it's just surface scratches. I'm particular about my vehicles ... if I get a scratch or dent ... it may as well be totaled (in my mind). It's happened before ... I lose all interest in the vehicle and end up shopping for a new one. I'm weird that way.

This is NOT going to be a fun day. What's next?

You know what? I just thought of a positive. The bulk of the tree landed right where I normally park my utility trailer. Another neighbor borrowed it the other day and hasn't returned it yet. That thing would'a been squashed like a bug! Wow! At least there's a small trace of a silver lining! ;)

[Captain]

Guess I'll just have to buy that old smashed up truck! :D

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[Thumper]

If it has a ding or scratch in the paint ... ol' Hammerhead may be driving it before long! ;)

[Thumper]

Looks like I may have gotten real lucky. Won't really know 'til I cut the thing out'ta the tree. I think the corner of my neighbor's house sustained the most damage. It caught the corner of his house and ripped off some guttering, a downspout and some flashing. Doesn't look like any structural damage. (fingers crossed) It also looks like I lost TWO trees. They were growing side by side and formed a big "V" ... looks like one fell toward the front of the house and the other fell the other way and is now being supported by another oak it fell into. First order is to cut my neighbor a path so he can get his car out'ta his garage ... THEN cut my truck out! What a friggin' mess. :(

3220 3221

Looks like it landed right dead-center on a fence post. Saved my fence and may have helped save my truck!

3222 3223

Well, my neighbor is here with his chainsaw collection. Time to get to work. Stay tuned ... more to come.

[LJ3]

I mean this in the nicest way possible. If your neighbor couldn't manage to drive past that twig blocking his driveway, he is a major league pussy :)

[Big Muddy]

Thump, looking at those very shallow tree roots, I believe I'd get all of those trees trimmed way back to get the weight off the crowns....you been lucky so far....jmho.

[Thumper]

Lenster, he's in his 70's and drives a brand new frigging Chrysler 300. A bigger limb is behind that one and laying up against the door.

Eddie, it doesn't show in the pics, but the roots were sticking up out of the dirt some 20 or more feet from the trunk. The tree grew in a "V" formation and split down the middle, so there wasn't much in the way of roots directly beneath the trunks.

Man-o-man, half the neighborhood showed up with chainsaws this morning and cleared the mess up in no time. All that's left is the base of the trunk and we'll tackle that at another time. A big thunder-boomer rolled in and everyone scattered.

BTW ... not so much as ONE single scratch or dent on my truck ...unbelievable.

[Big Muddy]

Yo truck beez a lucky mofo, Thump !!!....you gots good neighbors, too !!! ;)

[Captain]

I'm pretty sure that old truck is totaled. I'll send you a check for the salvage and bring a trailer to haul it home on? ;)

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[Chicken Dinner]

I'd total it for the gay-assed color alone...

[Captain]

True, I'll probably have to deduct a little off the salvage price on account of that.

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[Thumper]

I LOVE that color ... Lynn HATES it. I guess it's just one of those colors ... kinda like a Volkswagen Beetle ... ya' either loves 'em or ya' hates 'em ... there's no in-between.

'Course Cappy's boy LOVES it ... so that really makes the price go up. ;)

[Thumper]

Eddie, I have the best neighbors in the world here. It's a tight-knit neighborhood and all are solid gold. When I was driving my truck and Lynn was here by herself, the a/c went out. My neighbor called his a/c guy to come out and fix it, but we never got a bill. I asked my neighbor about it and he said they used to work together and the a/c guy owed him a couple favors, so he used one up. ;)

I have a bazillion examples of the neighbors helping each other around here. I'm not sure what I'd have done without them while I was in the hospital.