CRASH!

It was a dark and stormy night...

No really!

It was the first big rain of this year and the wind was howling (dude, 2.2 inches...in ONE day! in San Diego! no, really, it was a lot!). Suddenly, we were awoken from sleep by a crashing boom. Were our surfboards tumbling from their rack? Were cars crashing into each other out front? Was the building on the other side of the tracks getting smashed - again?

When we finally pulled ourselves out of our muzzy-headed sleepiness, put on jackets, and wandered outside we found that a big tree across the street had succumbed to its rotten heart and toppled over in the softened soil and high winds. It splintered on impact with the street but blocked the way quite effectively. Several cars ran into it or nearly ran into it despite a handful of residents standing around waving flashlights.

We love paying our taxes. Swear to god. Our neighbor called 911 and within 20 minutes a sheriff showed up, set flares and got a chainsaw crew to clear the tree. Within about 45 minutes there was no road hazard, no tree, nothing. Tell me that happens if we don't have public servants. The only thing left was the leaf debris and some twigs which were cleaned up the next day by the complex's landscaper (thanks Thad! Golden State Landscaping rocks).

What was really amazing about this incident was the complete lack of damage to anything but the tree. It didn't hit our neightbor's house, any of our fencing, or the car that had been parked by the tree. Even the people who ran into it didn't do it at high speed and didn't really damage their cars (going too fast anyway). Quinn didn't believe us when we told him about it.

Now we have one other tree in the same vicinity. We all look at it warily when the wind is blowing. It doesn't look as dead as the other one but it's quite a bit bigger and would definitely cause some damage were it to come down. It's only a matter of time...