Sly the Family Toad Loves the Fallen Tree

It was a busy day in our yard! All of the animals love the fallen tree. The fawn likes to nap under the deck near it. A small woodpecker and a Carolina wren came by for snacks. And then a wonderfully huge toad showed up. It was well camouflaged!

My husband thinks it looks like Sylvester Stallone around the eyes, and so he named it Sly. Say hello to Sly, the family toad! We suspect all of the creatures may be enjoying the insects that came out of the fallen tree.

It has been one week since the 80-foot tree fell on our house. On this day, the insurance adjuster came out and spent an hour and a half with us, measuring everything, taking lots of pictures, and then sitting in her car to create an estimate for us on her computer, which she walked through with us and then emailed me. (We both found her estimate very detailed and quite fair.)

She told us she would request that a check be put in the mail by day's end. It would cover reimbursement for the tree removal (already paid for by me), as well as some repairs to the roof and deck. Next week, we will get in touch with a contractor and ask for some estimates.

I had also invited a friend of mine to come out from town. She does woodworking and I asked if she wanted any of the parts of the fallen tree. I had not seen her in more than a year and a half, mostly due to Covid. She selected a small piece that she could carry, and then we sat in the yard and caught up.

In late afternoon, when the roof was dry enough to get up on, my husband went up on the ladder with some spare shingles and did a little patch-up work. There were really just two small spots where there were abrasions that might have allowed leakage, so we were very fortunate to NOT get much drenching rain in the past week  - somehow, almost every storm heading toward us SPLIT and went around before it got to us!

My husband invited me up on the roof to have a look at his repair, and I did fine climbing up the ladder. But once up at the roof's edge, I simply couldn't figure out how to get off the ladder and onto the roof! I am sure it is a very easy thing to larger people, but I am quite small, and it seemed daunting. So no, you don't get to see a photo of the roof repair; but you DO get to meet this toad!

The status of things around the house one week after tree fall:
1) The tree has been removed and that has been paid for.
2) We have settled with the insurance company, and once we receive their check, that part of things is done.
3) The minor roof damage has been repaired - good enough for now.

Whew! It feels like a lot! But that's all good. As my husband said, the deer is under the deck, the rabbit is back in the front yard, and the hummingbird is back sitting on the line by the feeder, so things must be getting back to normal! In honor of this toad, and the good progress we've made in one week, our soundtrack song is this one: Sly and the Family Stone, with Dance to the Music.