The Rest of the Story 2012 Weather Disasters – Neighbors Helping Neighbors

Gilbert's brother and faithful friend, Ron had to sit out this phase

The revival of an old time way of caring came about after the micro-burst that pummeled the Lake Erie, Marblehead Penninsula and nearby Catawba Island.  Now, the latest phenomena gave everyone a scare when the tail winds of Hurricane Sandy wreaked havoc in the neighborhood.

We had barely recovered from the Microburst occurring earlier this summer, when Hurricane Sandy’s tail winds hit the Marblehead peninsula. Combining the two incidents, a bright side to the story came by way of neighbors helping one another recover from the damages.

Gilbert isn't able to climb ladders, so he's the "go fetch it" man

The higher up on the ladder, the hotter it was

A big maple tree some estimated to be around four hundred years old fell on the neighbor’s barn.  The insurance wouldn’t pay for damages though it seemed it should have.  Just on the other side of the property line, the neighbors whose barn it was had to use their own insurance to make repairs.  Naturally, the repairs would cost more than insurance allowed, so the neighbors pitched in to defray the cost of repairs.  

Gilbert and dick work in extreme heat of the drought that followed the  micro-burst

The November storm resulted from Hurricane Sandy which swept across the eastern states and plummeted into the New Jersey Shoreline.  Our end of the storm wasn't quite so devastating, but we got worried about the old willow tree, which was about thirty feet tall, branches hanging perilously close to the our good friends and neighbor's house.  This inspired the job depicted here in the below photo essay.

The new storm story in a pictorial essay below.  Since my husband helped rebuild the barn, Ron and Gilbert came over and worked all day to help get rid of tree branches.  Ron pulled up a resin chair and operated the chain saw cutting the branch into manageable pieces for firewood.  We'll have a toasty winter thanks to their help.

After the micro-burst, things had just about gotten back to normal, then came hurricane tailwinds of "Sandy."

A strange dimness remained until late afternoon the day of the tailwinds from  hurricane Sandy.  Here in the dark morning are objects blown, and downed from the wind.  In the background is a toppled swing.  Thankfully, the boat didn't sustain damage.

Below: Ron hung his cane in the tree and helped Larry tackle the big tree branch that was threatening to fall on their house. Gilbert is in the background trying to escape the snapshot.

Ha ha!  Gotcha Gilbert!  (in the background)

They wondered what I would do with the pics.  I told them I was going to write a story called "Three Bald Men."  We all got a well deserved laugh.


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