The damage on Ware was not as extensive as I had originally thought. It looks now like only carports and sheds got beat up. Well, and trees. Lots and lots of trees. It seems that the situation at my house was unique. My tree remained firmly rooted in the ground. The winds twisted it about ten feet up the trunk, just tore it right in half. More commonly, however, trees around the neighborhood were uprooted and knocked over. We haven’t had much moisture lately, and so the ground was real dry. When our blacklands clay dries, it shrinks. So when the rains hit, it made the ground real soft real fast, and when the terrific winds hit the trees came easily out of the ground. My estimation of the damage yesterday was based on the number of trees resting on roofs and cars. After all the cutting and clearing, the structural damage appears to be far less severe. My neighbor’s truck sustained minimal damge to the toolbox in the back, and his chain link fence is twisted up, but otherwise everything seems okay now. And with my tree down in our backyard, a huge new opening to the sky has been created right over my house. It will take time to get accustomed to the new view.

In other news, I’m happy to report that my novel is turning out to be pure crap. See, I didn’t decide to participate until two days before it was to begin, so I scrambled hastily for a plot. About 15,000 words into it, I decided I didn’t like that plot, so I rearranged it slightly. Sadly, it didn’t much affect what I had already written, except that I needed to add a prologue to set up the new plot. Well, now I’m almost 30,000 words into it, and it sucks, it’s crap. I’ll keep going in the spirit of participation and good-sportsmanship, but my excitment for it has dwindled to record lows. Ah well, it’s giving me a good opportunity to flesh out some characters that I hope to use in the novel that I’m really writing, the one I’ve been working on for a year or so. Also, it’s giving me newfound energy to work on that novel again. So, as crappy as it will invariably be, I anticipate that something good will come of it. My friend, Andy, has already completed his novel, ringing in at a whopping 68,000+ words. Let’s hear it for him! Woo! He claims that his is “utter crap” too. I challenge him: I bet mine is crappier than his. In fact, I put this challenge to anyone out there currently writing a novel for National Novel Writing Month: I wager my novel is a bigger heap of crap than all yours put together! Now, please excuse me, another chapter of crap beckons.