If a tree falls in the neighborhood . . . we'll all be there to watch.

A tree in front of our next-door neighbors' house was hit by lightning (or winds--a tornado was rumored to be in the area) on April 13, and when it split, it fell towards their house and did quite a bit of damage. (We had five broken windows ourselves and we'll both be getting new roofs.)

They spent part of Saturday chopping down and cleaning up after the tree (I thought it would take the whole day--knowing how long it takes David & me when we do this kind of tree trimming, but they correctly estimated 2 hours once they'd cut the tree down--but they had at least 5 teens/ adults working). David videotaped the whole thing for posterity. Carmen & Gabriel were very interested and wanted to be involved. They helped with the sweeping up later.

Here's the "BEFORE" pile of limbs!


Paloma just wanted to see their cat, Boots, as usual.




Freddy took a few whacks at the trunk and found out how hard the wood was.
Then Paul went after it with the chain saw. TIMBER!!!




Katie tried surfing on the felled tree, so of course Carmen wanted to try it, too.