Twas the night after Christmas, when all through the house,
Not a creature was stirring, not even a louse.
Stockings were hung by the chimney with care
In hopes that they'd dry out and stink less out there.
Johnny and I were all snug in our bed
While visions of grandchildren danced in our heads
Johnny in warm socks and Linda with hot pad
Had just settled down for a long winter's nap
When right in their room there arose such a clatter
That Linda woke Johnny to tend to the matter.
"There's a cat in the house! It scratched our door open.
Go find it!" She poked him until his eyes opened.
"It's hail on the roof or a branch that is whining"
...then noticed the clock was not shining...
"The power is out" he said with a shrug.
"Go back to sleep. Will be OK tomorrow."
But Linda kept poking and prodding, so he
Climbed out of bed to search with a flashlight
But no cat was found nor anything else
"Go back to sleep," he said when returning,
"I'm going to bed," ...but Linda kept churning.
When the sky started to brighten, she got up and dressed
And went to feed critters and look for some damage
... None seen and no hail... after all it was 50!
Small limbs were down but not near the house
...She tripped over a cat: it was stalking a mouse...
Grandma found nothing that could give such a fright
As she had been given in the wee hours of night.
But later Johnny found it... the source of the noise
Not a cat nor hail... Not twigs on the rooftop...
Friends, children, grandchildren and pup -- come out...
And know when Grandma Linda says "Look out!"...
LOOK OUT!!!
The noise Grandma Linda heard was not a cat scratching on the bedroom door. It was a tree breaking off in the front yard and falling across the front driveway. A very large trunk of the very tall poplar tree in our front yard. After the noise, I (Grandma Linda) could not fall asleep, so I turned on the light and wrote the first part of the above poem. I finished after Johnny had found the source of the noise and showed me. Son Steve and family were due to arrive that morning... and they did. I had them all, plus friend Mary, stand in the back yard while I took their photo and read them the poem.
Then we all trooped out to the front yard and saw the huge trunk lying across our driveway, the fence between us and the neighbors in front of us, and for many feet into their property.
I had not seen it when I went to the barn that morning to milk and feed goats. Johnny came out and moved branches off our long driveway from the road so the kids could drive in, then discovered the huge tree across the front drive to the barn. He came to the barn and said, "I moved the stuff off the driveway that I could, but I'll need help with one." After I finished chores, he led me up the drive to the fallen poplar, again saying "I'll need help with this one."
Indeed!!
Since grandson Kestrel and son Steve, atop the log, are both 6 feet tall, I think it's more fair to check out the size of the trunk in comparison with Johnny and Jupiter...
Jupiter is a big dog, and not in the least intimidated by this tree...
I have no idea how we will get this mammoth tree off our driveway. It did *not* come down across a power line. Nineteen thousand PGE customers were out of power the day after Christmas thanks to the wind storm Christmas night. Our power came back on late the next evening.
Happy Christmas Week!!