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Just got my electricity back on this morning. Now I can actually boil the water like they've been telling me to do for three days :)

No Internet. No FR. No coffee. Warm Pepsi. Aarrrghhhh! It's been Hell.

We're all still fine here. I've been offline because Cox cable has been down for the last couple of days. Power is still out, though I can see lights a couple of streets down the hill. The generator works fine...

We were able to find a general contractor who convinced our insurance company to let them handle the whole job -- tree, roof, bedroom and attic -- on a cost-plus basis, so I don't have to present competing bids on every little piece. The insurance company was balking a bit at the $7300 estimate to lose the tree, but the contractor explained that the job will involve a rather large crane.

We are extremely fortunate. This house was built in 1950, presumably from tungsten steel and ironwood. The contractor took one look and said that any house built in the last 25 years would have been knocked flat. The tree is really two trees growing together, each more than 100 feet tall and more than 4 feet thick at the base. They had rotted on the inside where you couldn't see it and broke at ground level at the height of the storm. We were in the basement, directly under the impact points. It made a truly remarkable noise as it smashed more than halfway through the attic and came to rest on a steel support beam that anchors the addition.

There are several guys with chainsaws on the roof as I type, and with any luck they'll have the thing removed and a temporary patch on before the next rain.

I probably won't be posting again for a couple of days, so let me sign off by saying thanks to everyone who expressed concern, and best wishes for all those impacted by Isabel.

FRegards,
I.T.

Thanks for checking in! Glad you're ok. I did warm Diet coke during the blackout. I brushed my teeth with it, yuck.

Did you have much damage?