Storm Cleanup Time

For the man sound in body and serene of mind there is no such thing as bad weather; every sky has its beauty, and storms which whip the blood do but make it pulse more vigorously. ~George Gissing (English novelist), “Winter,” The Private Papers of Henry Ryecroft, 1903

It’s been kind of a rough spring here thus far.

We’ve run the gamut: high winds, thunder, lightning, heavy rain, and even tornadoes share the docket with practically perfect sunshine and calm. And the temperatures? If nothing else, Illinois in spring is erratic, ranging from the 40s to the 70s by day and the 20s to 50-ish by night.

But you’d like to see pictures, wouldn’t you? Okay, here goes:

This homeowner has a mess to clean up — downed limbs and an ongoing water/sewer project interrupted by weather, I imagine:

And somebody has a pile of limbs to cart off:

Here’s a tall tree with a limb barely hanging on:

And here’s a several days’ aftermath of nearly five inches of rain (no, it isn’t a lake; it’s a residential street):

And lest you think I escaped unscathed, here’s my backyard fence … with my neighbor’s tree collapsed on it:

How about a closeup, showing an opening that the Monk could squeeze through if he was so inclined:

At this point, about all we can do is be grateful it wasn’t worse and to hope things settle down soon!