Best friends

THIS SUCKS. WE still don't have power. Our roof is crushed. Sheryl's nephew doesn't have a car. The garage and shed are totaled.

I feel great.

I feel great because we had friends come over last night and chainsaw the living daylights out of The Hood. We got the tree off our front roof. We got about half of the tree in the back cut down, though the huge piece on top of Evan's car is still there - it will take a professional tree service to finish the job. Our neighbor, Don, is happy to have the tree off his garage too. We ate pizza and drank a few beers after we were done. We laughed a lot.

We are blessed.

James McKinney - chainsaw artist!

James McKinney of Pepper Spray Security manhandled the huge tree out back with his chainsaw. He'd been up since 5 a.m. helping his parents and other people with similar issues. He only drank water (I knew it was serious) and never complained. He. Was. Huge. Marines, Hoo Rah!

Frank Haxel, always in the right place at the right time, directed traffic and sawed away. Benny Lyssy did the same. Mike Baker and Greg Ellery took care of the tree in front. Greg got up on the roof and actually appeared to enjoy himself. Five chainsaws and 15 tree limb/debris helpers cleared as much as they could to get our yard and house safe again. Sheryl and others documented it all with photos.

My old Herald-Whig buddy from Hannibal, Kevin Murphy, showed up with a chainsaw and started blasting away on the branches after they fell from the main trunk.

Connie Guthrie walked up the street from her house and started dragging stuff into piles. So did Sheryl, Cori Lyssy, Lacey Davis, Amanda Waterkotte, Stephanie Boyer and Evan Boyer. The area by the alley is covered in huge piles of tree branches, and other huge piles of logs. I won't have to beg for outdoor firepit wood anymore, that's for sure.

All it cost was us five pizzas, two cases of beer, a case of water and a load of patience. Sheryl and I agree that a hundred bucks for the food and beverages was a small price to pay.

Some of the Ameren guys were in the alley and pointing at Evan's car. So he jumped up, grabbed his car keys and guess what? His car is totaled. But it still starts. He was a little excited when the engine turned on.

It was too hot and humid to sleep in the house. So we slept in the store. Fast Eddie enjoyed it, that's for sure. "Wake up, human! I don't care it it's 3 a.m. You guys are never hear this late ... let's party!" The dogs finally got comfortable and rested by the lesson rooms.

We are reviving with a Thyme Square breakfast and I will head back to the house to see if we have power. And all I can really say is .....

Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Dude, your car is crushed

SO WE GOT home last night a little after 6 and thought about running some errands. The trees down in the middle of the street sort of convinced us to stay home.

The sirens went off, the sky turned black and teal, and Sheryl was in a panic. We rushed inside, woke her nephew up (he is staying with us for a short time) and headed into the basement. We waited.

"The worst is over," I said, after about 15 minutes of hearing the rain pelt the house. "I'm going up."

I walked to the back door. I went outside. I stopped.

I could not believe my eyes.

This is Evan's car. Or, WAS Evan's car.

Our huge oak tree by our garage was toppled over by the straightline winds. It landed on Sheryl's nephew's car. It missed my car by two inches. It fell over not minutes after we went past it. Our garage and shed have been moved several feet and will have to be demolished.

Evan, Sheryl's nephew, stood in shock.

"Dude," I said, "your car is crushed."

Then we looked out front. It wasn't any better. The top of a tree got ripped in half landed on our roof. It busted the glass of the picture window, but thank goodness our neighbors came over and cut off the branches threatening to push in the window.

Candles were our friends last night. Who knows how long we'll be without power - one of the neighbors said they saw the transformer around the corner get hit by lightning.

At least we have added shade in the front of the house now. GUH.

The store is fine. We lost one of the metal balcony railings on the Fifth Street Side. A window got busted on the third floor, another on the fifth floor. Washington Park is a mess. But we are lucky - around the corner, a restaurant got whacked, and windows are blown out all up and down Maine Street. There is debris everywhere, streets closed, power lines down. I hear Madison Park at 24th and Maine got absolutely destroyed.

Now I'm hearing the Civil War Monument in Woodland Cemetery has been blown over. I'm gonna cry.

A word about the gawkers who drove by all night. Stay the bleep home. Stay off my street. You aren't doing any good. You are going to drive over a live power line or run into something gaping at the damage. It does you no good. I feel like I'm going to punch you in the face if you keep doing it.

It's a pain in the ass. Cleanup will take forever - you know how hard it is to get a tree service to actually call you back and come out? It's only going to be 95 degrees today, with 90 percent humidity.

But we are fine, Fast Eddie is fine, the dogs are fine. We can replace stuff and deal with the logistical nightmares.

I don't want to see any more rain or storms again this summer. Please?