Snap, Crackle, Pop!

Last night, around 10:30, we ran outside to the sound of firecrackers.

So had all of our neighbors. They'd beaten us outside and were standing around a huge tree branch from our tree that had partially broken from the trunk about 20 feet in the air and had fallen into the middle of our street.

Sorry, said the adorable neighbor kid. *Smartass*

We hung out with the neighbors in the street for a while, walking around the huge branch and listening to the groans of our tree. We analyzed the situation and agreed that it was likely that our tree would be tagged and removed, just like our next door neighbor's tree of the same variety.

We all commented on how the branch was so big that had E2's car been parked in it's regular spot, it would have been fine. Our neighbors even mentioned the make and color of E2's car, which made me realize how often she must be here. So, we hung out in the hot night air, with the branch still partially attached to the tree arching to touch down in the middle of the street.

One of our neighbors called the city -- apparently there had been a flyer about how our type of tree is often diseased and we should call if things appeared amiss. Seemed like as good of a time as any to call.

Eventually, two cop cars came, and they moved the branch to be parallel to the street, although still attached to the tree (blocking E's car into our driveway).

An hour later, the city sent a huge truck to chainsaw it down with a long-arm chainsaw that brought us back out into the street -- that thing was cool! I can't believe I've never seen one in a horror film.

Unfortunately, I didn't think to take pictures 'til this morning.

So, this is where the tree branch broke from the tree:



And, this is what is left of the fallen branch:



Do we know how to party on a Friday night, or what?