Video of HONKIN’ BIG STOOPIT TREE on my HOUSE!!!!

/ Marcia Meara

IF anyone is interested in seeing what a tree can do to your garage, you can check out a short video on my FB page here: Video. The orange looking things on top of the roof, right under the tree, are rafters. Half of the garage rafters are reaching for the sky, the other half are sticking into vehicles. The entire attic floor has collapsed on top of our cars, and workbenches, etc. And the door will never open again. It looks like at least the top layer of concrete block will need to be replaced, if not ALL of the garage walls. And the whole house will need a new roof.

And Mark wondered why I was so scared of this particular storm. I had a BAD feeling about Irma from the get-go, hence my obsessive storm-watching for a week. Who says women’s intuition is a myth? LONG days ahead, cleaning, getting contractors out here, wrangling insurance agents, etc. But I’ll do my best to keep things interesting on The Write Stuff, in spite of it all. I’d miss you guys too much, if not.

And hey. I’m still standing, after all these (73) years, and Hurricane Irma, too!!!!! 😀 😀 😀

NOTE: If the link doesn’t work, its’ something with WordPress. Just search Marcia Meara on FB, and choose the one that DOESN’T say “writer” for my personal blog.

37 thoughts on “Video of HONKIN’ BIG STOOPIT TREE on my HOUSE!!!!”

  1. Well done, at least you’re alright. Our intrepid BBC reporters were right there with you, perhaps sheltering in your house? I think they love it actually, makes a change from standing in a studio next to a weather map.
    I can imagine the long days ahead trying to get the insurance and builders out, but don’t stop writing and don’t miss the opportunity to write about hurricanes. My WIP starts with smashed beach huts after our 2014 Valentine night storm – a bit pathetic compared with the devastation of islands and peninsulars!

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    • I’ve managed to contact all the necessary people to get the ball rolling on repairs, and that is SUCH a relief, I do believe I can sleep tonight. (That 3 hours last night is LONG used up!) It might be a little while before I want to even THINK about hurricanes, much less write about them, but at some point, there just might be one coming to Riverbend. You never know! 😀 Heading to bed now, and I plan to SLEEP as hard as I can!! 😀 ❤

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  2. Glad you’re alive and kickin’! That is a heck of a tree. Sorry to see it go and to hear it took out your garage and cars with it. Hope you can get some help from disaster relief and insurance to rebuild the most awesome garage ever! Build back better, as they say! I think these sort of weather events are the new normal in the wake of global warming so maybe a fortress is the way to go [she says writing to you from somewhere on the San Andreas Fault]. xx

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    • Our insurance will cover this, I think, and then they will collect back from the folks next door. It was their tree, and they are liable for these kinds of damages, I think. I’m feeling much better now that I’ve contacted all the folks who will need to be putting this back together for me. We WILL get through it. Thanks so much for your kind words! I appreciate it VERY much! 🙂 ❤

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    • Thanks, Craig. I’m starting to calm down now, especially since I was able to get through to all the various insurance folks today, for house, car, roof, etc. I can breathe easier tonight. And I’m truly very grateful that Mark and I are okay, as well as our six animals. We were VERY lucky it’s all property damage, even if it’s fairly extensive property damage. I appreciate your taking the time to offer an encouraging word! 🙂

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  8. Wow, Marcia, I watched the video and it is incredible. We get very bad thunderstorm here in South Africa (nothing like a hurricane of course but we get flooding and damage and hail). I insisted that we remove a very big tree in our garden that had started to rot. Looking at this I am really glad that tree is gone. At least you are all safe and that is the most important thing. Hugs.

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    • Hey, don’t make light of thunderstorms. We get those every afternoon, almost, during the summer, and they can cause a heck of a lot of damage. I’ve seen trees uprooted, windows broken, and hours-long power outages. Not with every storm, of course, but I’m always nervous during a heavy one.

      However, for sheer power and scope, they don’t compare to hurricanes, of course. As a Florida native, I’ve seen way too many of them hit this state over my lifetime, some with devastating consequences. But anyone who thinks this is a new occurrence is wrong. The worst natural disaster in the U.S. was a hurricane that hit Galveston Island, Texas in 1900. Nearly every single person on the island was killed, estimated to be a figure between 6,000 and 12,000 souls. And Irma hit on the 117th anniversary of that one. At least we have a lot of advance warning today, unlike those poor souls on Galveston, who had no idea until they woke up in the middle of it, and were swept out to sea or drowned in their homes.

      Hurricanes in Florida have always been a given, for hundreds and hundreds of years. We have an entire SEASON marked off for them. And it doesn’t end until November, so we have to be very aware of what else might be coming. Mother Nature can be pretty violent. In Florida, it’s hurricanes. Farther west, it’s earthquakes. In other states, it’s tornadoes. Eeeeeek.

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  9. That video was scary. I’m so glad it was your garage it went through – doesn’t ber thinking about if it had been elsewhere. It’s great you’ve manged to get the ball rolling with the insurance people. Hope you sleep better tonight. 🙂

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    • I slept nearly 7 hours, Mary! For me, that’s quite something! And I feel much better today, too. Thanks so much for your concern and support! And yes, if that tree had landed on the living room, or bedroom, one of us would probably have been killed. Certainly, severely injured, at least. I’m pretty sure my body isn’t as sturdy as the roof, the rafters, the plywood flooring, and the drywall, and the tree came all the way through all of that. GULP!!! But today is sunny and I’m feeling much more in control. I’m going under the assumption that I will actually SEE the insurance people here within a day or two, as promised, and things will get underway. First priority, seal the hole with tarp to prevent further damage. Second, get the tree service people out here to cut this thing up and remove it. Then, we can catch our breath a bit more, and proceed from there. 🙂

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  11. That sucker of a hurricane completely rerouted and besides the devastation to the Keys. seems northern Florida got the brunt of her fury. How frightening that must have been Marsh. You are a true warrior woman! ❤

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    • I’m just glad I don’t live in Jacksonville (though I was born there). They are still flooded worse than Miami, I think. The entire downtown area has about 6 feet of water on every street. Eeeep. We never even lost power, here, and this area isn’t flood prone. There was none. But the OLD laurel oaks in my neighborhood are on their last few years, and a lot of them came down. Of course, ours seems to be the only house that was hit, but that’s a GOOD thing. 🙂 And yes, it was very scary. The longest and scariest night of my life!!! I’m still not quite over it, though I’m not wringing my hands and wailing any more. (What? That doesn’t match your idea of what a warrior woman should be doing? Hahahaha. I’m what’s known as a Warrior Woman After the Fact. 😀 Of course, only I know about those, because I just made them up.) Hahahaha. ❤

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      • Lol, so glad to see you haven’t lost your sense of humor! Even warrior women are allowed to get scared Marsh. But it sounds like you’ve pulled up your big girl pants and that’s the best you can do – make lemonade! Go figure you were the only house hit in your area! You and I together would be the 1% girls – unlikely odds to happen, but would happen to us, LOL Keep smiling! ❤ xo

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  12. My hubby and I once witnessed a mini tornado while we were holidaying in Spain. It was frightening but nothing on a par to this. So glad you and Mark are okay, just sorry that tree had to give you such grief. And you’re right about women’s intuition we sense things, I’m like that too!

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    • Tornadoes are so terrifying. We were under tornado watch or warning throughout the entire hurricane. As if Irma wasn’t enough on her own. A man was taking pictures of our damage yesterday. Said he lived in a neighboring subdivision, and had been riding around photographing everyone’s damage. (Retired, with his camera his new hobby). He said there were a LOT of trees down throughout our part of town, but he only saw one that had hit a house, and it only clipped a corner on the way to the ground. He said, “Man, yours is the worst I’ve seen.” And then he took pics from every angle. 🙂 I never expected to win first place in a competition of that sort! 😯

      And yep. I just knew Irma was bad news, even though our area seldom takes the brunt of these storms. We normally just have lots and lots of debris to clean up after, most of which can be handled by a good raking, and a few bigger limbs being cut into pieces for the yard waste trucks. Somehow, I don’t think those folks will be carting off this TREE!!! 😉

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        • It hasn’t been fun, but considering what many, many others are left with-or left without–we were pretty lucky.

          We bought this house because it had so many gorgeous, big oaks in the yard. There were five in a circle in the front yard, two more on the easement between sidewalk and street, a cluster of smaller ones in the back, and one gigantic one in the center of the back yard. We’d been here six months when Hurricane Charlie passed right over our head. It left the big one in the back yard leaning OVER the house, and we had to have it removed. Over the last 14 years, we’ve lost almost every one of them, one at a time.

          Of course, the one on our garage is our neighbor’s, which was just across the property line. But it still shaded our yard, and now it’s gone, too. Our electric bills have gotten WAY higher because the house isn’t shaded any longer, and the a/c has to work much harder. Nothing to do about that, but conserve as much as possible, but when temps reach close to 100 degrees for a month, costs soar. I miss those big trees, I can tell you. (August’s bill was $323, and this is NOT a big house.) ACK!!

          I’m telling you, I’d be in the mountains tomorrow if it weren’t for my husband’s job. At his age, he doesn’t want to start over, and I don’t blame him for that. Better to stay here until retirement. But I just might start working on him, then. 😀 Hurricanes and heat are doing me in. 😯

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    • Wait until you see the pictures of the tree being removed. 😯 It was a spectacle. Seriously. My neighbors brought their folding chairs out and watched for three hours! I’m planning to put Small(ish) Catastrophe post #2 up today, if all goes well. And I believe we are going to have to rent a car for Mark, as the PT won’t last long driving 50 miles a day. I never take it farther than 5 miles or so from home. It’s my grocery/errand car, and won’t last long with it being driven so far each day. We’ll decide for sure when we see the insurance adjustor tomorrow. At least, I HOPE she’ll have some answers for us, so we can proceed with this clean-up/repair operation. I’m tired of being on hold. 😦 But hopeful we can move ahead soon. 🙂

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