Timber!

The winds last night were so loud that I couldn't hear anything but their beating and howling at the house, and the power went out around midnight.  I found myself unable to sleep because on some level, I was listening for AC even though I couldn't have heard her over the noise (and obviously, the baby monitor was non-operational), so I gave in at about 3:30 and brought her to our bed in hopes of getting a little sleep. Of course, an hour and a half later, in the early morning gray, I woke up to a little voice behind my back murmuring, "Mama."  Very cute, if very early.  Thankfully, she went back to sleep.

When I called the power company first thing, the recorded message estimated that power would be restored at 11:59 . . .  pm . . . tomorrow!  I worried about the oodles of stews, homemade spaghetti sauce, soups, and casseroles I had been stockpiling in the basement freezer--as well as how we would get through the day, since the house was already growing colder.  Sam and I had a strategic planning session that ultimately settled on all three of us going to campus; we could see lights there from our upstairs window.  Then we could pass AC back and forth for the morning between teaching and working in our offices, and in the afternoon, I might take her to the mall.  But the blessed power came back on just before it was time to leave--thank you, Mr. Electrician-spied-on-the-corner!

Here's a picture of the damage two doors down, plus another view including someone's pickup for scale (someone lucky, since the truck wasn't flattened!).