Our cats looking out the patio door in VirginiaThis is the weirdest October for weather that I can remember here. Usually it is hot and dry and we get the Santa Ana winds. But, we’ve had overcast days for the whole month and it’s been misty and drizzly. Yesterday we had rain that continued all night.
Sometime about 2:30 a.m. I woke up just in time to hear something. It sounded like something brushing the side of the house, like “swish”, but I really couldn’t tell. Sheila was asleep by the bed, but she also heard it. She jumped up and wanted to bark I know, but like me, she didn’t know if it actually was something to bark at. So, she went through the house, but never really barked. I tried to go back to sleep, but couldn’t.
Well, when it was later and I was opening the blinds in the bedroom, I saw that the big bushy tree that was on our hillside, had fallen over. The whole front of the house was leaves and branches.
The sound that Sheila and I heard was that tree falling over. I remember that sound because it was the same one we heard when we lived in Virginia during Hurricane Isabella in 2003.
We had a huge maple tree by our back deck. The storm hit in the late afternoon so we could see the sheets of rain and the trees blowing side to side. I was scared witless and all I could do was sit on the stairs and listen. Charlie went into the little den we had and was reading. My imagination runs wild sometimes and I thought “What if our doors or windows blow in and the cats get out?” So, we found all of the cats and put their I.D. collars on, just in case.
Then I heard that “swish” sound. We went to the back of the house and that maple tree had fallen....away from the house, thank goodness. Not only that, but the huge Sassafras tree back by the fence had fallen as well. It took out three sections of the fence.
The next day was beautiful. The sun was shining and the sky was so blue. We had two big trees down in our yard and our neighborhood looked like a war zone. Other neighborhoods were worse though. Not far from us a tree had fallen on top of the house and it was split in two. Luckily the people were not home. The man was a professor at Wesleyan and he and his wife and little dog went to his office for the storm. Not sure why.
We didn’t lose electrical power because our lines were underground. But, the older neighborhood behind us had overhead lines and they were without power. We heard generators going everywhere for weeks.
At the time, we had a little white cat named Blanca. She lived in our garage and in our backyard. We had found her in our yard one morning not long after we moved to Virginia. She was tiny and we thought she was a kitten. But, she was probably 4 or 5 years old, according to the vet. She had been someone’s cat because her front paws were declawed and she was very friendly. We had tried keeping her in the house with the other cats, but there was too much fighting going on. She was outnumbered and she never backed down, so there was no peace. She had her own little room in the garage and she was pretty happy out there.
After the storm, Blanca went with us to inspect the backyard. Charlie wanted to take some pictures for the insurance company. So, Blanca and I climbed all over the fallen trees. Those didn’t get sent to the insurance company, of course, but I have them in an album.
When we moved back to California, we sent Blanca ahead to stay with a friend until we arrived in a couple of weeks to get her. In the two weeks, my friend, Kim, became attached to Blanca and asked if she could keep her. We agreed. Blanca had about 5 more happy years living with Kim, her daughter, Haven, her cats, Pinto, Colby, and Tessa. Blanca became ill last year and passed away. She is still missed by her family and Charlie and I talk about our days with her in Virginia as well. She was a real sweet little cat.
Blanca
As for the tree that fell down in our yard this morning, it has been cut up and taken away already. Now the privacy screen between our house and the neighbor is gone. Charlie says it’s good that the tree is gone. He plans to ‘do some work’ on that hillside. I told him I would remind him of that. There’s a witness......Kaci is lying behind me in my chair as I write this.
More later........
Sometime about 2:30 a.m. I woke up just in time to hear something. It sounded like something brushing the side of the house, like “swish”, but I really couldn’t tell. Sheila was asleep by the bed, but she also heard it. She jumped up and wanted to bark I know, but like me, she didn’t know if it actually was something to bark at. So, she went through the house, but never really barked. I tried to go back to sleep, but couldn’t.
Well, when it was later and I was opening the blinds in the bedroom, I saw that the big bushy tree that was on our hillside, had fallen over. The whole front of the house was leaves and branches.
The sound that Sheila and I heard was that tree falling over. I remember that sound because it was the same one we heard when we lived in Virginia during Hurricane Isabella in 2003.
We had a huge maple tree by our back deck. The storm hit in the late afternoon so we could see the sheets of rain and the trees blowing side to side. I was scared witless and all I could do was sit on the stairs and listen. Charlie went into the little den we had and was reading. My imagination runs wild sometimes and I thought “What if our doors or windows blow in and the cats get out?” So, we found all of the cats and put their I.D. collars on, just in case.
Then I heard that “swish” sound. We went to the back of the house and that maple tree had fallen....away from the house, thank goodness. Not only that, but the huge Sassafras tree back by the fence had fallen as well. It took out three sections of the fence.
The next day was beautiful. The sun was shining and the sky was so blue. We had two big trees down in our yard and our neighborhood looked like a war zone. Other neighborhoods were worse though. Not far from us a tree had fallen on top of the house and it was split in two. Luckily the people were not home. The man was a professor at Wesleyan and he and his wife and little dog went to his office for the storm. Not sure why.
We didn’t lose electrical power because our lines were underground. But, the older neighborhood behind us had overhead lines and they were without power. We heard generators going everywhere for weeks.
At the time, we had a little white cat named Blanca. She lived in our garage and in our backyard. We had found her in our yard one morning not long after we moved to Virginia. She was tiny and we thought she was a kitten. But, she was probably 4 or 5 years old, according to the vet. She had been someone’s cat because her front paws were declawed and she was very friendly. We had tried keeping her in the house with the other cats, but there was too much fighting going on. She was outnumbered and she never backed down, so there was no peace. She had her own little room in the garage and she was pretty happy out there.
After the storm, Blanca went with us to inspect the backyard. Charlie wanted to take some pictures for the insurance company. So, Blanca and I climbed all over the fallen trees. Those didn’t get sent to the insurance company, of course, but I have them in an album.
When we moved back to California, we sent Blanca ahead to stay with a friend until we arrived in a couple of weeks to get her. In the two weeks, my friend, Kim, became attached to Blanca and asked if she could keep her. We agreed. Blanca had about 5 more happy years living with Kim, her daughter, Haven, her cats, Pinto, Colby, and Tessa. Blanca became ill last year and passed away. She is still missed by her family and Charlie and I talk about our days with her in Virginia as well. She was a real sweet little cat.
BlancaMore later........
Boy! I remember that storm. Everyone was in a mess. I also remember Bianco. She WAS a pretty cat. I sent you an email about a long cat. I don't think we can beat that record.
ReplyDeleteI'm loving reading all these stories about your cats. All the little personalities; all the memories. Thanks so much for sharing!
ReplyDeletePS - Glad the tree was so easy to get rid of this time. So far the worst we've had from all this rain is mushrooms - LOTS of mushrooms - in our yard.