Last Thursday morning I noticed a blue tarp covering a hole over the kitchen and a limb resting on the roof of the garage at the ranch style domicile at the end of our extended one block long street.  Most of the houses on our street are circa 1950, “stick built,” that is, without usual rafters.   The large forked limb fell from well up on a mature oak tree which stands nearby. There is also a lot of debris scattered on the ground.

Sunday Becky and I were talking with a couple of neighbors.  One couple had first heard and seen the limb break the previous Sunday.  It came crashing down taking more limbs with it during a rain Wednesday evening. Jeff, who lives next door to the owner has been in communication with her in Connecticut. 

As I understand it, a couple of years a woman living in California bought the house sight unseen intending to live in her new purchase.  She also intended to rent out a small mother-in-law house in the back yard.  However, when she arrived in person, she discovered that she could not rent out the small house.  Furthermore, the larger house needed extensive refurbishing.  Her plans not working out, she decided to rent out the main house after getting some major rehabbing done.  After the latest folks moved out, she had it interior repainted.  Another neighbor, Marie, told me that it’s beautiful inside. In the meantime, the woman in question moved out east.  Jeff said he suggested having the tree taken down.  That must have been too much, and she cut off communication.

For now, a lease sign stands in the yard and a large oak limb rests on the garage roof beside the blue tarp covered hole above the kitchen.   All is quiet, though we do wonder.