Relative Something

Among the many global weather and natural disturbance events that have been making news, the near-hurricane, with record low atmospheric pressure readings in my home state, has made quite an impression on Cyndie and me in the last two days. First of all, Cyndie’s return flight from a work trip to Kansas City was canceled due to the storm. They offered to book her a flight on the following day, but unfortunately, she couldn’t wait another day because she had a doctor’s appointment in the morning. Arrangements were made with a different airline that would involve a transfer in Milwaukee and included a 3-hour layover. That layover was extended a few more hours due to the weather, but at least she was finally in the air again, on the way to Minneapolis. Too bad it was now past midnight. That flight also got extended by about 12 laps around the airport before landing, as the pilot waited for a break in the wind and his turn in line to get a shot at the single remaining open runway.

She didn’t have to worry about waking me as she tried to sneak in at the wee hour of 2:30 a.m., because I was already awake, checking on the tree outside our bedroom window that had tipped from the wind and was caught on the small tree next to it, and banging against the side of our house. It rattled like that in the gusting winds for the rest of the dark hours of morning.

It is a good thing she made it home for her doctor’s appointment, because her knee has really flared up and is causing her not only discomfort, but limited mobility. They sent her to see an orthopedic specialist who diagnosed bone fragments, spurs and a meniscus tear in the joint. But she told Cyndie that her knee caps look really, really nice. That’s good to know, huh?

I called our arborist and sought help with our leaning tree. With winds like we have been experiencing, you can imagine that they have a lot of customers seeking attention. I was told it will be Friday or probably Monday or Tuesday before they can get to me. Last night, the concern over that leaning tree was eliminated when the small tree (turns out it was two small trees) that was (were) holding it, gave out and snapped and all three of them came crashing down. I wasn’t home, so it was Cyndie who needed to hobble over to check on damages. We lucked out. It could have smacked a window, or wrecked our deck, but it dropped in the perfect spot, cutting through our compost pile, to cause a minimum of disruption.

I sure hope that means we get a break on the amount that was initially quoted to fix my variety of recent tree issues!