Emergency?

Last night, Birmingham experienced a "severe thunderstorm capable of producing a tornado." Though a tornado was never spotted, the wind and lightening was intense. We were awakened around 3:30 by the boom of the power box in the area. There went the electricity. We set our cell phone alarms so we'd get up on time, checked on Cole (sound asleep), then returned to bed.

Then we heard another noise, more of a "whoomp." Brice said it sounded like a tree, so we got back up and started squinting into the darkness through every window in our house. Once I made it to the front window in the dining room, I saw it. A tree from across the street now lay across the road in front of our house. Across the street is a vacant area with several trees - I don't even know whose property that is. So what do you do? I've never heard/seen a tree fall before. Brice suggested we call 911. I immediately protested- 911 is for emergencies, you know, dying, burglar, the big stuff. But as we thought about it, it seemed the only logical thing to do at 4:00 in the morning!

So I made my first-ever call to 911! I was visualizing the recording device they always show when they replay a 911 call. What if I made it to television for stupid emergency calls? The woman who answered was super sweet. I told her the situation and she asked for my location. She said she'd send someone out right away and thanked me for calling. What? Really? Sure enough, within 3-5 minutes a fire truck pulled up to our house. By this time, I'm on the front porch trying to get a picture for the blog - my husband's brilliant idea. (i know B, you love him!) Three men headed over to the tree and one cranked up a chainsaw - I'm sure the neighbors loved that 4 am wake-up call. Brice checked on Cole who was awake but immediately passed out again after getting the scoop on what was happening.

By 4:15 it was all over. The road was clear and the firemen moved on. The whole event was kind of exciting. I had a hard time falling back asleep. It was too dark to get photos at that time, but I got one this morning before I left.


Now, who's responsible for cleaning it up?