and it's progressing

 Some photos. 

this is what I came home to

And this is the state of the electrical box. (O G and E had turned off the power and removed the line at this point; it was safe for me to go back there

That was Friday. Let's see, on Friday I:

- called O G and E for an emergency disconnect

- Got instructions from the guy (O G and E's "guys" are, in my experience, all very helpful) on what needed to happen to restore power. He repeated it for me when I asked (I was understandably shaky at that point)

- Got my fresh food over to Dana's

- Arranged for a motel room through tonight (and I will probably keep the reservation for tomorrow night that I made on Sunday, when I was afraid the repairs would take more than a day and  a half)

Saturday, I

- Found the tree guys and arranged for them to come

- Printed out the sermon and other stuff (e.g., a benediction) I would need for Sunday)

- Contacted the 1-800 number for my insurer and opened a claim

The tree guys worked pretty fast until they got to the biggest part of the bole, which understandably took longer:

that was about an hour into their working.

this is the tree by the end of the day:

Yes, next week I am going to call the guys back and arrange for the rest of it to be removed; it's not safe long term. But I need to get the other stuff fixed yet.

Sunday I did the sermon. I need to write another for next week; I might look up the lectionary scripture tonight and start thinking about it. 

I also did laundry down at the church. Hopefully I will not need to do that again; that I'll be back in my house soon.

This morning, I stopped by my insurance agent. The lead guy wasn't in yet but one of his helpers gave me a list of approved roofers (in fact, the roofer may bill the insurance directly) and she said regretfully they didn't have a similar list of electricians. But then I called the electrician my friend Dana recommended. Unfortunately, he had too much lined up, but recommended ANOTHER guy - a former lineman, in fact, so I assume he knows his stuff - and I called him. And yes, he could come. He told me he'd call, it might be 10 am. 

And he did! And he looked at the breaker box in the house, looked at the damaged meter, had one of his dudes take it apart and look at it, and after him assessing it, he said "oh yeah, this'll be simple. I'll go get the permit to work from the city, I'll call you when I'm done"

I was scared, frankly, because I was afraid before I talked to him there would be dozens of code updates* that would need to be done, and it would be hundreds of dollars that aren't covered by insurance, and days and days of me being out of my house. But no

(*later, my secretary said "everything other than the meter should be grandfathered in, even if some day you do want to do a rewiring job, you don't need to now). 

So I went to the bank, and went back to the insurance agent (he was in then, and added in what information I had to my claim. Sounds like I have a smaller deductible than most given how long I've had the policy and the fact that I have NEVER used it, other than using my auto policy when a vandal broke a car window some years back). Ate some lunch. 

Went back to the motel, realized it was clouding up FAST, thought "I'm gonna go check and warn the dude; he probably has a phone app that alerts him about storms but still"

Got there and saw that the young guy who worked with him was just clearing everything up. I commented about the rain coming up fast and he laughed and said "yeah, I just gotta close the breaker box, and then we're good. My boss is trying to arrange for the city inspection, I'm going to call him so I can make out an invoice and give you a receipt"

So that got done

I locked up and went back to my office for a while. The electrician called, apologetic: "I'm waiting on the inspector to get back to city hall, don't know if he'll get to it today" (at this point it was POURING rain and I laughed and told the guy I didn't expect things would be this far along by now, and I understood if the inspector couldn't get out. He said he'd call me when they did. And I thanked him for coming out so fast, because yes, I am genuinely grateful; all too often here people think needs like this are less urgent than they are to the person experiencing them.

So possibly by tomorrow I have power back on. (I will have to call O G and E for a reconnect after the inspection)

I'm keeping the motel room for tomorrow night; I will need to check out and check back in but the person at the front desk told me I didn't need to move my stuff out of the room, they can just give me the same room back.

I also went to the cable provider. Tentatively I have a Wednesday afternoon appointment to reconnect the cable; if the power is not back on by then I can reschedule.

I also, in all of this, called the recommended roofer for my garage, he said he'd be out in a day or two to assess and at least put a tarp up there.

So it's MOSTLY done, and pending the inspection being good, everything should happen in good time. 

I wanted to drop the receipt off for the electrical work at my insurer, and frankly, I wanted one of the sweet mint iced teas from H Tea O - my lunch (a grilled chicken sandwich which came with bacon - which I didn't ask for - as well as the tomato that I did, and fries and "fry sauce") wasn't sitting too happily (I blame the fry sauce) and I thought mint might help my stomach.

But first, I wanted to run home and verify I DID lock both doors (I had)

It was still pouring at this point. As I was pulling out, a young woman - probably about 18, possibly pregnant - was walking down the street and she hailed me. At first I thought she was a friend of my next door neighbor - she has a friend who looks similar who sometimes stays with her. But when I rolled down the window, I saw she wasn't*

"do you know how to get to AAAA Apartments?" (not its actual name). I said yes, it was on the other side of town. At first I thought she wanted directions, then I realized she wanted a ride

(*and now I think about it, but it didn't register before - she had some bruises on her face, which might play a role in what was going on).

"I had a fight with my boyfriend and I want to get home to my mom. I don't want to stay with him any more and I need to get there."

Well: I was raised in the generation of Never Pick Up A Hitchhiker Because They Might Pull A Weapon and Steal Your Car or Hurt You but my snap judgment was: this is a very young girl, it's raining HARD and she's upset and it's a good 2 1/2 miles to where she needs to be. I sighed, and cleared off the front seat, and explained I was having to have home repair done and was out of my house for the moment, but she could ride if she could fit in around the stuff (my bottle of laundry soap, some books, a box).

She got in. Yes, I admit, I thought "what if she does pull a knife or something" but I decided that was vanishingly unlikely AND ALSO *I* did not pose a threat to *her* whereas someone else that might offer her a ride could. 

So I started driving. She talked CONSTANTLY and in a slightly disjointed way so I don't know if she needed medications she didn't have or what but she was friendly enough. Asked my name, I told her (just my first name). Asked where I was staying - I was elusive about that. Asked if I smoked; here you never know which kind of plant the person means these days but I think she was wanting to bum a cigarette. (I don't smoke)

She asked my phone number, seemingly in the context of "maybe we could hang some time!" and in retrospect, I probably should have said "honey, please look closely at me, I'm probably older than your mom" but in the moment I didn't think of that, and God forgive me, I gave her an intentionally incorrect number (subbing in a different digit for one of the regular digits). I hope no one actually has that number, or I hope she thinks I said it wrong or she wrote it wrong. But I didn't want calls, didn't want to have to block her if she called, and this seemed kinder than flat refusing.

At any rate: we got there and I dropped her off and I hope she's safe now and that she does get back to California (where she said she used to live).

I ALMOST never do that - because of the risk. I DO, in carefully considered situations, offer food or a small amount of money to people asking for help. Not often, but I have handed a $5 bill to the guy asking for help with food* when I feel particularly flush

(*I know, I know. But I figure $5 will more likely buy a hamburger than drugs, and maybe the guy was genuinely hungry and in need)

Anyway, I figured: (a) a lot of other people helped me these past few days (though some did get paid for their trouble) and (b) I was someone who would get her safely home instead of making her life worse

I did have to detour on the way back, a train was blocking the road crossing I would take, and I briefly thought "no good deed goes unpunished" but whatever, I got my receipt dropped off, and I also got this: