I wrote about my patio last week and and how it was a sanctuary to me. It’s my happy place. Monday evening Mother Nature decided we didn’t need as much shade anymore.

Roxie and I spent a lot of time on our patio last weekend. We cleaned it up, grilled and enjoyed sitting around the table eating lunch and dinner. We had our first campfire in our new firepit. I blogged about the nice flowers and trees around our patio. The trees provide much needed shade for our patio. My squirrel friend jumps from tree to tree and shows off for me. Last Monday night my patio changed!

Monday evening around 10:00 Roxie and I were sitting in our living room watching the news on television. All of a sudden there was a big crashing sound! It sounded like it came from my attached garage. I asked Roxie, “what was that?” She said “I don’t know”. Earlier that evening I stacked some firewood in my garage. My first thought was that the stack of firewood had fallen in the garage. Not a big deal, so I didn’t bother to get up and see what the noise was.

The next morning Roxie and I did our normal routine of getting ready and going to work. We both came home for lunch. We were in the kitchen preparing our lunch when our back doorbell rang. It was our neighbor/brother-in-law Larry. Roxie answered the door and went outside with him. She came back in immediately and told me that I better come outside. I did. What I saw shocked me!

A large branch had broken off the tree by my patio and landed on my house/garage! It looked worse than it was. I couldn’t tell if we had damage to our roof. We all stood there looking at our broken tree! My first thought was that I needed to climb the tree and cut the large branch down. My wife thought I was too old to do that. The discussion then turned to who to call and remove the branch from the top of my garage and house. A number of tree services advertise with us on Q-92 and they came to mind right away. I first contacted State Farm and Tony was very helpful. I then called State Line Tree Service. Dennis Fairchild said he would be over later that afternoon. Things were moving fast. I stood looking at my broken patio with sadness.

Dennis and his wife Lori showed up just before supper with a huge truck. They drove it in my yard and Dennis got in the lift and started the chainsaw and went at it. He cut the large branches and Lori put them in the back of the truck. It took them about half an hour. They cleaned my patio up and it looked better than before they came. I jokingly told Roxie that we should go into the tree business together and work side by side like Dennis and Lori. She responded with, “that wouldn’t work for us, I would end up in the woodchipper!” She’s a funny lady. I love her.

State Line Tree Service did an amazing job. They also sympathized with me because I had lost some shade on my patio. They knew how important that was to me because Lori told me when she arrived that she had read last weeks’ blog about my patio. They are good people. So, a few days later I was out sitting on my patio and it really wasn’t that bad, I still have shade, but not as much, but it will work. My patio is still my sanctuary.