The worst day of any vacation is always the last one, a day of paradise lost and of the impending intrusion of the real world. Why does it have to end so soon?

     So it was for Vicki and me as we drove away from our annual vacation Saturday.

     Ah, but it would get so much worse.

     When we arrived home in Richmond, we saw … well, not our home. 

     Not at first, anyway. The yard was full of tree limbs and leaves, obscuring the house from the street.

     When did this become a rain forest?

     Ordinarily, we might get a glimpse down the driveway. The driveway, though, was now a parking lot for heavy equipment. A massive dump truck, the biggest “bucket” truck I’ve ever seen and two other pieces of equipment filled every square foot.

     It looked like they were building an interstate.

     We hadn’t been caught completely off-guard. A neighbor had called to say a storm came through Richmond Thursday night, and a pair of big trees now were laying – very gently – on our house and deck. It appeared damage was minimal, if any.

     Others clearly had fared worse. As we neared our home Saturday evening, we saw one home that had been almost split in half by a tree.

     But trees had continued to fall after the storm. Now four or five were down near our house – and these are 40-to-50-foot trees. The roots of one one were pulled from the earth.

     Our daughter and son-in-law, chainsaw in tow, had cleared a walkway. But this is now a major project. The side of the house is damaged. The roof might be. The big boys, with that big equipment, are to begin taking care of it today.

     Insurance is paying for it, of course. In fact, I just re-upped our policy the day before we went on vacation. I even saved $85 a year.

     I did that by increasing the deductible on our new policy – the part we pay if we put in a claim – from $500 to $1,000.

     Do I have timing or what?

Comments

Add New Search RSS

Martha Steger   |2010-08-07 08:47:45 Kudos on your insurance timing, Ray! I hope the house is soon back to normal for you (if normal is good for you, that is). Really enjoyed your Editor's Letter in the new issue. I'm sure this year's Saturday evening wedding turned out just fine because Nature really owed you one this time!

Write comment
Name:
Email:	do not notifynotify
UBBCode:	-color-aquablackbluefuchsiagraygreenlimemaroonnavyolivepurpleredsilvertealwhiteyellow -size-tinysmallmediumlargehuge
	Please input the anti-spam code that you can read in the image.

Powered by !JoomlaComment 3.26

3.26 Copyright (C) 2008 Compojoom.com / Copyright (C) 2007 Alain Georgette / Copyright (C) 2006 Frantisek Hliva. All rights reserved."