Surprise!

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Yesterday evening hubby took me out to eat at Olive Garden, because I was feeling down. We had a great dinner (Chicken Scampi, yum!) and headed home about 8:30.  As we came down Little Elm Road we could see flashing lights in the distance, but the closer we got the more they seemed to be AT OUR HOUSE.  A feeling of dread overtook me--

Thank heavens the problem was just south of our driveway.  A tornado had blown through, going west to east, and had blown a neighbor's tree down across the road, taking power lines with it.

Of course our first concern was for the house, especially the new construction.  We were lucky--other than some debris being blown around, wet insulation in the attic, and some water inside the new addition, there was no real damage. Power was restored about 11:30 pm.

The trees did not fare so well.

Tree #1--black locust:

Tree # 2--black locust:

Tree #3--black locust:

Tree #4--black locust:

Tree #5--black locust (gee, I sense a trend here.) This one is only about 25 feet from the new construction, and fell across our chain-link fence.

Black locusts are "trash" trees.  The roots are only about 12" deep:

We also had several large limbs down in other trees:

Above on the west side, below on the northeast.

Our south neighbor lost the only tree in his backyard, on the east side:

Ironically, hubby had already scheduled the tree trimmers to come back and trim some of the very trees we lost, so they will remove all the downed trees and turn them into firewood and mulch. Earlier this year they came out to top several trees, but had to return a few days later when our post oak was blown down.  This is getting expensive! (As I write this they are here starting the work.)

This is the remains of the neighbor's tree that blocked the road for about 2-1/2 hours.

 Another neighbor lost his backyard shed--the roof landed in this tree.

The rest of it blew across a field and lodged against a fence.  The church under construction in the background seems to be okay.

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The framers were back again this morning at first light, and are starting on the staircase. I think it may be time to remove the artwork from the north wall of the house--this is our bedroom.

More photos will be posted later this evening.

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