The Joys of Homeownership: Goodnight, Irene

I promise this is the last time I mention the hurricane. Why? Because the final remnants of the damage the storm did to our property are now on the curb awaiting pickup. The long weekend enabled procrastinating old me to finish the work that needed to be done.

First, the big branch that split and fell from this tree on our sidewalk:

Sad and breaky

But you'd be proud of me. I sawed it off myself (after borrowing a saw from a neighbor). Even climbed a ladder. (My problem with ladders is well documented. Click here for said documentation.) And I chopped it up just in time for the special hurricane trash pick-up:

Chop Chop

And remember the small lake that formed in the basement? (Ironically, we were in the process of getting estimates from basement waterproofers when the storm hit. A process that has now been accelerated.):

Lake Irene

Had to bust out the rain booties

The result: some IKEA stuff we've had for years that we had been using as storage had finally seen their last day:

Warped and Moldy (like many old people I know)

Thanks to this storm, I did see the very best of people in the face of adversity. Neighbors helping each other no matter what confronted them in their own homes. I saw bravery during extreme new experiences from the Peanut and my wife. And I learned I can rise to the occasion and be there for my family in an emergency. (Although if this were an actual emergency, who knows how I would have handled it.)

All that being said I must share one final definitive word about Hurricane Irene: whore.

Peanut and I experienced Irene without my wife. Click here to read about it. But as the storm hit, Peanut showed me her very best. Click here to read about that.