Weather and life are common themes. The end of Winter paves the way for Spring, a season of rebirth. But March 2021 it seems will not “go gentle into that good night.” With only a few days left in March you may be wondering where is the Lamb? Because Ravenna and I (personally) have experienced the bite of the Lion’s teeth throughout the month.
Around 9am Friday, March 5th an exceptionally large tree fell in front of Brown Middle School at the corner of West Main St. and Scranton. The main and side roads were closed from traffic usage for several blocks in various directions. It was a sight to see, as onlookers stopped to watch large cranes maneuver through the branches and electrical wires. Chainsaws and mulching equipment were brought in to cut apart and remove the limbs. It was located in the yard of a business called Sheila’s Pampered Pets Grooming.
Right across the road is Richardson Animal Hospital and the Center of Hope both of which experienced effects of the damage.
Receptionist, Erin Blazer, said “It was very, very loud when it came down. We were just about to go into surgery, but we didn’t have animals sedated yet, since it was just in the beginning of our morning.”
The street in front of the veterinary hospital is “usually crazy busy” and when Erin heard it fall, she thought someone hit something. She jumped up and looked to see that. luckily. there were no cars in any of the three lanes. “If it was going to fall it was the perfect time to do so because it didn’t fall on anyone.” A customer told Erin a woman had been walking down the road just a minute before the tree fell. She was astonished that the woman had not been struck.
When one organization faces difficulties, more often than not it seems a plan quickly develops in the form of help and support from some other entity, as is the case with the situation experienced by the Center of Hope.
Kierstin Prater, Program Coordinator for the Center of Hope, explained that since both sides of St. Rt. 59 were blocked, it affected their food service operations. “We were serving hot dogs that day and wanted to make sure it stayed within Health Department guidelines, so we put all of the food in temperature-controlled bags.”
They coordinated with Ravenna Schools Superintendent Dennis Honkala and hauled the lunches from the Center to the parking lot in front of Brown Middle School to serve those in need.
“Our phone lines at the time were not down which is so surprising because the tree fell that morning, but our phone lines didn’t go down until about 4:30 Friday evening. We still served about 180 lunches from 11:30am-12:30pm that day, which is a pretty good number,” Prater said that volunteers adapted to the challenge.
Superintendent Honkala said many of the Center of Hope people walk and some drive, so they just had to be re-routed.
Fortunately, the tree fell when school was already in session, so it did not cause any interruptions in the morning. “I was concerned it was going to disrupt transportation after school because we do have a number of shuttle buses, but as it turned out we only ran about 5 or 10 minutes late. The Police Department sent several officers to help with traffic, buses and pedestrians,” he said. The tree was still being cut apart when school was letting out.
This past weekend’s windstorms rounded out the Roaring month of March as fallen trees and branches blocked roads and took down power lines. I got to witness the 40-foot Evergreen in my front yard crack at the base, uproot and land smack dab on my power and cable lines. Can you imagine? As I am writing this I still do not have internet access. I am really roughing here people!
The portion of road in front of my home was closed the whole weekend, hindering deliveries and mailmen, but not the daredevil preteens who had the bright idea (I am being very sarcastic right now!) to ride their dirt bikes over the power lines lying on the ground — even with the Road Closed signs. The lines were lying in the middle of the road, but we were told they were not active. Sufficie it to say I was still worried about trying to dry all 48” of my hair with a hairdryer. I really did not want my nickname to be Sparky! So, thankyou Cost Cutters of Ravenna, for fitting me in so quickly so I did not have to wear a baseball cap all weekend.
While the road department, firefighters, tree cutting service and power company have all paid me several visits this week there is something to be said for the positive sides of being without power and internet access. It causes us to value family time more and to disconnect from the troubles around us which is necessary from time to time. Having to lighte up your house with candles and go without Facebook is not the end of the world. If you play your cards right, it could just be the beginning of something beautiful like a community working together or playing board games by candlelight with husband and family.
