I'm Baaacckk!

Sorry for the extended absence, but the wife and I went to see the grand daughter and her Mommy for Christmas. Yes, while we don't necessarily celebrate the religious trappings of the holiday, they are really tangential to most of the family oriented, gift giving stuff for us anyway. And it's just a great excuse to party, eh?

Not only was I gone for a five day stretch, but we got back to find the area where we live had been slammed by an intense wind storm, a not uncommon winter happening here on the north
coast of California. The power was out, and stayed out for more than 24 hours after our return.

Upon walking around the property where we live, we discovered some damage to the studio cabin on the lower part of our yard from a tree that fell over from our next door neighbor's property. Here's a look at it:
















It was a pretty good sized pine, and the wind basically snapped it off about eight feet up the trunk. It definitely could have done some major damage to the cabin, but a ladder we had leaning up against it caught the tree's fall first, and it basically tumbled to the ground after just one bounce on the edge of the roof. We feel lucky.

A large redwood that grows near our kitchen window dropped a large limb right in the back yard, taking out one of our lawn chairs and a table we have back there.



















Again, we feel quite fortunate that branch didn't land on our house, where it would have done some major damage. This is all just a part of living in the forest, as well, and we accept that nature can deal some pretty stiff blows when she decides to.

Well, I can't mention the child without posting a picture of her:

She is at a wonderful stage in life development where money is just a toy to her. She has a box of pennies and nickles which she likes to stack and make designs with, or to spin like a top. Ah, sweet innocence of youth.

It was a wonderful time spent with them, regardless of the chaos we came back to. As you know if you have read this blog, I miss her very much, and this was a great chance to spend time with her. It was over far too quickly.