What More Could Possibly Happen....

I think I'm declaring that Western South Dakota sits just inside the 6th gate to hell. I am truly surprised more serial killers and wack jobs that end up in the news don't come from this area.

On Monday, the high temperature in Piedmont was around 83 degrees. Marnie mowed the lawn. In our backyard sits a 3/4 dead whatever tree that I was hoping I could get cut down soon. BUT NOOOOOOOOOOO!!! It started raining on Monday night as a severe thunderstorm flew threw at a hundred miles an hour. Tuesday... it gets colder and a small snow storm rolled threw with wind. As the day strolled along the wind grew stronger, it got colder and it began snowing hard. By Tuesday night they had closed Interstate 90 that is the major road through here.

While at work Tuesday night Marnie calls me up at about 11:30 to tell me that we had bark in our kitchen and a hole in the ceiling. Most of the top of this dead tree came crashing down on the roof of our house. We now have a 19 inch around, part of a tree lying across our roof. Another piece just as big is leaning against the house. The force of the fallen tree smashed a 2 1/2 foot X 9 inch hole in the kitchen ceiling with a crack in the ceiling sheetrock that runs half the length of the kitchen.

Arriving home around 12:15 am, I immediately grab the camera to click the moment of our lives leaking through the roof. (Pictures to come later folks). I take a bunch of photos inside and outside the house in the blizzard. I notice a large section of this tree lying across the power line. We try to call Black Hills Power, our stupid fucking electric company, to see if they want to come out and advised us of the situation. Of course we couldn't get a live person on line to tell them. Luckily, The Sheriff stopped by and called it in to 911 dispatch and they called the Power Company. This was at 1:00am. The power people finally got here at about 3:30am to tell me that the branch would be okay on the line and they would return in the morning. So, I start reading the news on the computer before going to bed and feel the house shake, I'm thinking the goddamn rest of the tree came down to finish us off. It was the power people removing the large branch from the line. So I go outside to see what the hell is up, thank them for scaring the shit outta me and told them how a simple knock on the door would have been nice before they started to climb all over the roof.. I come back in the house and go to bed.

I live on a rented lot. It's size is 3/4 acre by 1 acre, a nice sized lot. I'm going to have to find out whether the lotlord has to have insurance on the land while it's being rented. He's a typical slumlord with out the falling apart buildings. In the last 5 years we have replaced the water pump, done our own electrical work and all the maintaining of the property. I understatnd that simple maintenance is required of us like mowing the lawn and stuff like that but I consider the dead tree to be part of his problem. So I'll check to see and call him to tell him what his tree did to our dwelling.

I'll keep you onformed of the progress of our crisis.... more later.

Eric