On The Fly

Crash! The wind howled: the house shook, a window shattered, hail pounded the windows as tree branches splintered and flew just inches outside our bedroom's sliding glass door. It was 1:30 a.m. February 1, 2016. Jolted back to our earthly reality we leapt out of bed. "Oh my God, the giant tree in the back yard has fallen,” Lori shrieked. When nature comes knocking instantly hundreds of wild uncontrollable thoughts flash through your mind. Do we need to evacuate? What happened? Was there electrical damage? Which tree is it? Are the cats ok? Did it destroy our new deck? Is the roof intact? What about the neighbor’s trees . . .  In the pitch darkness little did we know that both 40-50 foot Pine trees in our yard had been completely uprooted by the violent storm from the Winter El Nino in Southern California. We flipped on the light and made our way down the stairs. The cats were nowhere to be found. Glass covered the living room carpet and a cold wind was ...