Fun Monday-Not so Much

This was supposed to be a Fun Monday post about things you collect and just can’t get rid of. I had big plans to show you my shoe closet and all of those old shoes I hoard long after they’re useful. You know, the worn out summer sandals that smell and should be tossed but stay. Or the sixteen pairs of flip flops I have in various states of disrepair. And the dress shoes that I never wear because they don’t fit well but I bought them at the time because I was desperate for (insert color here) pumps that matched a suit or dress. Yes, I was going to bare my soul, open my shoe closet and reveal it all in a soul cleansing effort to motivate myself to throw that mess away. And then Ike hit.

Ike? But you’re thinking Hula lives in Kentucky, right? She’s nowhere near the hurricane belt. Yes siree. You are correct, but apparently Ike decided to roll his bad a** across more than the gulf. As he curled around the Midwest he ran into a cold front in our neck of the woods yesterday morning and wreaked a little havoc on our end of the state with 70 mile an hour winds. There are trees broken or downed in just about every yard, and the lights went out for thousands of people, including the Hula-gen’s. Our electricity was off for about 24 hours. While we certainly aren’t struggling with anything like the good folks in Texas, we got a little more holy spirit than we expected yesterday morning. This is the view from Mama J.’s and Papa T.’s front porch. Hello!
The thirty year old pine tree that sits between their driveway and ours cracked near the bottom and fell with a glorious thud.
Thankfully, it barely missed their house and Papa T.’s old pick up truck. We couldn’t have laid it on the ground any more perfectly if we had tried. See.
We called a tree trimmer and asked him to come out right away, and after he picked himself up off the floor from laughter said he’d get to us as soon as possible. It’s looking like he might be here in time for Thanksgiving. We faired rather well compared to most. The big maple in our front yard, the one I desperately love, survived but lost a few limbs. The wind turned over our deck furniture, where just twelve hours before some twenty people ate grilled hamburgers and partied to eighties tunes.Eventually, the wind blew the table, chairs and umbrella into the yard, destroying our fourth patio umbrella in three years. That’s FOUR! FOUR stinkin' umbrellas in three years! For the love of Pete, someone please tell me who put a voodoo curse on our patio umbrellas. Two walnut trees sit near the deck, and those walnuts were flying off like missiles when the wind was blowing. More than once Hubby almost got whacked in the head while he was trying to deal with the downed tree downed cable line flying patio furniture mess. Now they’re just sitting there waiting for us to turn an ankle or two when walking in the yard. Our neighbors are dealing with their own messes, too. This tree sits….um it used to….near our side yard. It will have to go because the limb that fell ripped the heart right out of it. So dear folks, my shoes will have to wait another day. We have limbs to haul off, a tree to cut up and candles to collect. Oh, and I’ll have to work up the nerve to open the refrigerator to see how it faired. Don’t worry though. Those shoes aren’t going anywhere.