No, it's not our tree

A few weeks ago, during a short but intense thunderstorm, this hackberry split in two. One side fell against the roof of the next house and a small cedar tree. The other side blocked the street. It was the talk of the neighborhood. Literally. Interesting how something like this brings people out to socialize while they observe the damage and discuss what happened. We even had a neighbor knock on our door at 10:00 p.m. to make sure we knew about it.
I e-mailed a photo to the local news station, and they showed it several times, along with my name. Friends called me, worried that it was our beautiful oak tree in front of our house, for which our home school (Oakview Christian School) is named, as well as our home business (Oakview Resources). Fortunately for us, we had had our oak tree trimmed last summer, and it weathered the storm without any difficulty. After all, "Oak Stump Christian School" and "Fallen Oak Resources" just don't have the same ring.

This has been an unusually stormy spring for our area. On a positive note, I've loved the rainfall for our flowers and garden (unfortunately the weeds love it too). But it gets a bit old having to cancel our plans and head for the basement. And no one wants to hear news like we did a few weeks ago: a tragedy that occurred when a tornado hit a nearby Boy Scout camp, in which four boys were killed.

Fortunately, the peak season for severe weather is drawing to a close, and we can look forward to a couple months where all we have to complain about is the heat and mosquitoes.