When I finally gave in and got up yesterday (around 4 or so), I stepped out on the front porch to get the whole hurricane experience. Well, not the “whole experience.” I stayed on the porch out of the driving rain and extremely high winds. I did shoot a video with my phone camera, though. Of course, a video will never give the same sense of awe and wonder at the sheer power of it all.
As of 5:30 in the morning, all I could tell damage-wise was some sycamore branches down. Of course that happens pretty much every time it rains. The power was on, but it was definitely flickering occasionally.
I did spend some time praying. In fact the prayer was constantly “interrupting” whatever else I was doing at the time. Why? The fire department app was even more active than it was at 3 when we first woke up. I tried to at least shoot up a prayer every time one of those calls came through.
I was finally able to doze off for a few minutes at my desk. But when it started getting light, we went outside and started taking some pictures and videos. In a nutshell, we had fences down or trying to come down, shingles flying off the roof (it was still storming), tree branches everywhere, including one pretty substantial one still desperately hanging on, everything in the backyard was in disarray (including Chris’ plants. Ouch!). We were without power, but only for about two hours or so. Just your average, everyday hurricane results. I texted our contractor and insurance agent, and both replied right away. Now we wait.
In the aftermath of the storm, several fun things happened. The neighbors started gathering in the middle of the street to check on each other and compare notes on power outages and wind damage. We also had a surprise visitor knock on our front door. Chris started toward it to see who it was, but she stopped dead in her tracks. She whispered to me to come to her, but to move slowly. I may or may not have exaggerated my tiptoe, but I was quiet. And what to my wondering eyes should appear but … a baby great blue heron. It was beautiful. It was also eyeing us carefully for any signs of predatorial movement. We both managed to get our phones out and take some great photos. I then switched to video.
And just as the camera started, who should arrive to see what all the fuss was about? Freddy, of course. She hesitated at first, looking up at us for behavioral clues. Receiving no assistance there, she turned her head to see for herself. Yep. She did a double-take when her eyes finally focused on the interloper at the front door. She instantly switched into territory protection mode. She raced to the door, barking crazily.
It was the heron’s turn to look briefly bewildered, then react to this tiny, but very loud creature. It turned away, spread its wings and flew into the windy morning. It was a beautiful sight. God did good when he created great blue herons. They are my favorite water bird.
We spent some time after lunch trying to clean up some of the downed branches from the two sycamore trees. Brennan came over and gave us a hand. Neighbors helping neighbors. We also piled our little plastic slide on top of the downed fence to try to keep Freddy in our yard. I don’t think she’d trespass. The neighbor back there has a rather large white dog. One gulp, Freddy. That’s all you’d be. One gulp.
Last night we had another knock on the door. No heron this time. It was our neighbor. They are a young couple just starting out in home ownership. And yes, this was their first hurricane. Newbies. Their house fared well, but one of their really big trees almost blew down. As a result she got an estimate on tree removal for that one and one other that is infringing on power line space. She just wanted to know if we had any trimming we needed done on any of our trees while the guy was here. Actually, we have been talking about cutting down the tree next to the one being uprooted. It has roots that lately have begun to encroach upon both of our foundations. We may try to come up with the money to get that done. But even if we don’t, that was really nice of them to think about us. Neighbors helping neighbors.
2 Chronicles 15:7 says, But as for you, be strong; don’t be discouraged, for your work has a reward.
Father, thanks for making great blue herons. Beautiful. Just beautiful. Oh, and neighbors. Also beautiful. Amen.
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