SITY: The Aftermath

People may call Irene a Tropical Storm, but she’ll always be a Hurricane to me. Her whipping winds broke branches and uprooted trees all across Rhode Island, depriving two thirds of its citizens of electricity. Our power outage lasted a mere 36 hours. Some unlucky folks are still waiting for the lights to come back on.

Before the storm struck, the news of Irene’s impending arrival made me wonder about the state of our trees. Looking up, I saw a number of dead branches. I worried that they would come down during the storm, and I cursed myself for not having thought of that possibility while there was time to do something about it.

I needn’t have worried. Irene only took live branches. She left the dead ones up. She also killed branches and left their still-leafy corpses swinging in the wind, like this one here.

This branch provided our only entertainment during the storm. With no electricity, we couldn’t watch the news or monitor the weather online. That left us with little to do but plant ourselves in front of a window and wait for the branch to fall. With every powerful gust of wind, the branch swayed threateningly toward the house and we watched, agog, wondering which gust would be the stroke that finally sent the limb crashing through our dining-room windows.

The stroke never fell. The branch stayed up. Now it hangs over our front lawn. Without the strong winds pushing it, it is unlikely to damage the house if it falls, but it is a constant threat to anyone standing or playing in the yard. It is also a reminder that we need to see to the health of our trees before another hurricane comes to town.

My husband has not yet, even after drinking strong beer, suggested any of the following solutions to the problem.

• How about I throw an axe at it really hard and see what happens? Better yet, the chain saw!
• Do they make ladders that tall? If not, let’s lash two ladders together. You hold while I cut!
• Let’s borrow a trampoline and use it jump up, grab the branch, and pull the sucker down.

Instead, he seems content to hire a professional to do the deed. We imagine that tree professionals are in great demand right now and that our “little” branch wouldn’t be considered a priority. So we wait. It’s no longer entertaining to watch it, but what else is there to do? The power is back on, but come to find out there’s still nothing good on TV.