Family, Foreclosure, and the Big Branch

We had a relaxing, restorative weekend.

Friday night, I suffered through "Camp Rock" on the Disney Channel (okay, "restorative" didn't enter the weekend until Saturday). Jen had been counting down to the airing of the movie for months, thanks to the propaganda commercials touting the movie that have run on Disney for months.

Yes indeed, what more could a 9 1/2 year old want? A Hannah Montana marathon, snd then a movie with the Jonas Brothers! I had my marching orders that all I had to do was to be wrapped up by 8pm so we could "enjoy" the movie together.

The movie stunk to high heaven. "High School Musical" it ain't. But whichever Jonas played the male lead in the movie could've stood there and read a menu...it wouldn't have mattered to Jen.

After the movie, I was ready to go to bed and sleep off the bad taste in my mouth. Jen was bouncing about the room, prattling away about the film, and anticipating...

Saturday, and getting together with Sofi for the afternoon. Pam and I got a chance to catch up with each other face to face, instead of our scattered calls that have marked the summer thus far.

Then two happy calls on Saturday night. My mom's call to let us know that she and my sister are flying in this weekend for a visit. Then Paul calling for a Sunday morning beakfast invitation to meet his brother, sister-in-law, and nephew, who came down for a visit.

We all met up met at the Golden Corral at 9am, then went back to Paul's to swim before the afternoon thunderstorms rolled in.

Woke Monday morning to glorious sunshine. At about 9:15 am, I took the dog outside briefly, then headed to my office to begin work. As soon as I shut my office door, there was a loud noise I couldn't quite identify, but it sent the cats scrambling and the dog barking madly. Then I head Jen's voice saying, "Mom, you should see the big branch that just fell in our back yard!"

We have eight huge trees in our back yard...well over 100 feet high. All of them need to be cut down, as they're rotting. Lying in the yard, in the exact spot where Lucy and I had been standing not three minutes before, was a branch about 15 inches in diameter, and about 30 feet long. The branch somehow cleared the roof and the satellite dish. It was a scant two inches from the AC unit, as well.

When I looked up, I could see the branch had fallen from about 50 feet up. There was another huge branch that had been knocked loose and was now hanging by a thread as well. On its trek to the ground, the branch had knocked down a bunch of smaller branches. I picked up what I could, but the big branch wouldn't budge.

Then it hit me...had that branch come down while Lucy and I were outside, it would have killed us both. Really. That realization made me suddenly queasy, so I wandered back into the office to collect myself.

After telling Jennifer that the back yard is off limits from now until we move, I called the landlord. No, not to get some help getting the tree removed. My landlord doesn't do repairs or maintenence. Never has. Plus he's the slowest moving cuss in the South. I was just calling for an update on the foreclosure.

I spoke to his office manager, and got the answer I expected. He's letting all of his rental homes go to foreclosure. The twenty days he had to respond has passed. The next step is waiting for his court date. Once the house is officially foreclosed upon, we'll all get served again, and an auction date for this house will be set.

So, we've got about 90 to 120 days to find another place to live while this all plays out. Time to pack...