Bein' neighborly

It's amazing how people can come together after a storm. Robbinsdale is a pretty neighborly town anyway, but after last night's storm people stopped to chat and help.

On my walk this morning, people were surveying the first daylight vantage point after last night's 80-mile hour winds blew through town. (I know Tim's blog said 68, but I heard this higher report at the local municipal airport.) Trees were down everywhere--not just down, but uprooted. A huge tree next door to a friend's house was unearthed--this was an oak or something large like it--at least 30 feet tall--blocking two neighbors' yards. Central Point Energy arrived to inspect the damage--apparently it had exposed a gas line.

As Raven stopped and stooped to do his business in one yard, a little elderly lady peeked out her doorway. I showed her my bag--a sign that I was cleaning up after my dog. She spoke to me, but I couldn't hear her, so I steeled myself for a lecture. Surprisingly, she greeted my dog kindly and spoke about the storm. She was worried about her daughter. Her daughter lived in an area where many trees were down and she was afraid her family might be hurt or at least inconvenienced without power. The house next to the elderly lady had a large tree down--it was dead, so there wasn't too much surprise about its toppling. I encouraged her to give her daughter a call and not just wait for the phone to ring.

We continued our walk. A little girl, all dressed up in a Pocohantus denim dress with a pretty pink backpack, spoke to us of how the storm started when she was at church last night. I asked her where she went to school, then informed her that school was cancelled for the day. (My kids still had school, but the Robbinsdale area public schools are closed due to the fact that only two of them have power today.) A neighbor man came over, then the girl's mom came out. We talked about the storm ("where were you when the lights went out?") and the mother had to rethink her day. Fortunately, she works from home, so day care was not an issue today. I'm sure for many parents it is a huge issue--and especially if parents' didn't have power, they may not have heard that there was no school today.

On to the neighbors' with the unearthed tree and exposed gas line. Several ladies and children had gathered there--some finding out at the bus stop that there was no school. I met a friend who had half a cow in her freezer (beef, that is). I invited her over to put her goods in our mostly empty freezer, and loaded her up with all the ice we had in our ice-maker in the upstairs side-by-side.

The noise of chain saws in the background tells me people are at work to clean up. We are getting a very very very (lots more very's could go here) small taste of what Katrina victims experienced. I am so glad my daughter and her friend got home just after they had spotted funnel clouds. We huddled in the basement for at least an hour watching the weather. There was only one reported death that I heard of so far--a 52-year-old man (only about a mile from here in Minneapolis) was going out to pick up his wife and daughter when a tree fell on him and killed him. So sad.

It could have been much worse. I pray that those in hurricane Rita's path are scurrying out of their neighborhoods to safety.

And I'm grateful for the myriad of blessings we have--home, family, neighbors, electricity, food, transportation, and lots of other things.

Till next time,


Suzi