Good news/bad news: the bad news is that pretty much my #1 worst nightmare involving my property happened; a tree fell over during a seemingly spontaneous storm with very forceful rain and wind for like an hour.
The good news is that it was not one of the trees in the back of my property that I always fear will fall onto one of my girls’ bedrooms and hurt them. It was a tree in my front yard, and it fell in a pretty precise manner in which nobody was hurt, it did not hit my home, and it did not hit my neighbor’s home either.
The point remains however, a tree fell down on my property, and I didn’t really know what the fuck to do. It’s not exactly something that I ever anticipated would happen, but then again I did have suspicions that this particular tree wasn’t optimally healthy based on the fact that mushrooms were growing out of one side of it. But it was still sprouting leaves and growing branches, so I didn’t suspect that it was really dying beyond survival through a storm.
I did remain calm and rational and figured out what my next steps would be, but I also went ahead and threw out a query to my community’s Facebook page to see if anyone could recommend a tree removal service that didn’t have a completely booty experience. One of my neighbors chimed in and stated that because the tree had already fallen, it shouldn’t be difficult for him to break it down, and he volunteered to assist. And seeing as how raising children stretches my finances into frequent discomfort, this type of assistance was extremely welcome.
My priority was that I wanted to clear as much of the tree off of my neighbor’s property as soon as possible. I know that legally, even though the tree originated on my property, most states’ laws say that the owner of the property where it lands is still the one liable for it’s removal. Sure, it would be easy to shirk the responsibility but such truths don’t sit well with me, and the last thing I ever want would be to have beef with my next door neighbor, with whom we have a normal, neighborly, friendly relationship with.
But after putting the girls down for the night, I could already hear that work had already begun on the tree, and by the time I came outside to get to work myself, several of my neighbors were already hard at work, and moving branches and cutting down the trunk, and nearly halfway through with breaking it down. Needless to say, I was quite floored by the immense generosity of time, labor and camaraderie spared by my neighbors, and it’s hard to put in words just how grateful I am for the help.
I’d say it took maybe another 90 minutes before we wrapped up, with not a single scrap of fallen tree left where it had dropped in sight, with only a smattering of wood chips and a jagged stump to indicate that the tree was even there in the first place.
I really need to make sure to compensate my neighbors with some form of food, treats or drinks, because I can’t even fathom just how incredible they were in assisting getting this tree off the property. I’ve lived in so many places where everyone is just so insulated and keeps to themselves that I’ve practically forgotten what it’s like to have neighbors who care and are willing to help out and it makes me want to be a better neighbor and pay forward the generosity of effort to those whom might need it in the future.
However, as positive as the tree issue is, it’s unfortunately not the only thing to have happened, to warrant the snarky post title of home groanership.
Apparently, I’m having some plumbing issues in my home, to the effect of realizing that there’s a leak in one of the ceilings of my lower level. It doesn’t take a physics genius to realize the correlation between when the dripping began with the bathroom right above it, and what we’ve got is a scenario of a mystery leak that’s most likely hidden behind the walls and will require some cutting into drywall to identify.
When I had my house inspection, this was flagged as a potential issue, but at the recommendation of my realtor, I had waived this particular flag off, seeing as how the prior owners sunk a lot of money in fixing the roof, installing ventilation fans and a few other things without batting an eye, and I didn’t want to ask for so much that they’d move on from me as a potential buyer.
And six years later, it never seemed to be an issue, but then again, we also didn’t have another permanent resident in the house that was using the shower on a daily basis. I don’t blame my au pair one bit, because this seems to be an issue that was going to rear up eventually, and now that we have, it’s gotten to a point where it has to be addressed, because moisture is the bane of home ownership, and the last thing I want is to continue to ignore it, have mold grow in secret behind the walls and have it hurt my family.
That being said, unlike the removal of the tree, this most certainly isn’t going to be $Free.99. I already have a plumber appointment made, and the assessment alone is going to be nearly $400, which applies to any work that they do, but I’m telling myself to expect at least $1,000, and anything under that is probably a win, and anything over it is going to make me want to cry probably because it’s going to eat into financial cushions that I mostly don’t really have in the first place, and feed the infinite depression I have when it comes to money matters.
All the same, in the span of 24 hours, a plumbing issue arose, and a tree fell on my property. Because nothing is ever allowed to be easy, and much like in the show Beef, it doesn’t matter how straight and how much of the right things I do, shit just always continues to happen and makes life feel difficult all the time. It’s instances like this that really make me wonder why people want to be homeowners in the first place, regardless of knowing the answer, because all the same, sometimes, it just really fucking sucks.
