Craig: 2, Russ: Many

Our weekend of storms is long over, and none did any damage that I could see around here except the third one, S2008-003, or as I call it, Craig.

I don't consider knocking leaves or branches from trees to be damage, not even if they hit something, and I'm sure more dramatic effects were seen elsewhere, but around here only two things suffered.

One is a gate that I built that shouldn't have lasted very long, anyway. It's as wide as a driveway and constructed of 2X4s. To say that it has little longitudinal strength would be apt. It features a wheel to help it move, but it rocks and sways as much as it pivots when I open or close it.

Now it rocks and sways even more. It does this because the Simpson strong tie that was holding one of the vertical pieces to the top board stopped tying the two pieces of lumber together strongly. Or, to be precise, at all.

I'm blaming it on storm damage, no doubt from a getting whacked by a branch.

That's an annoyance, especially when I need to open the gate to move the trash cans to and from the street, but since that's about the only time I use the damn thing, I can postpone doing anything about it for quite awhile. At least until after I find my screw gun. No, I haven't found it yet. Yes, I'm still sure I will. No, I haven't checked those last couple places because then I'd know for sure if it was there or not.

Consider it Schrödinger's Screw Gun.

The other calamity was far more ... calamitous. As has happened once or twice before, I lost my Internet connection. I also lost the phone line that comes with my ADSL, but that's of lesser importance. The good thing about having wired it all myself is that I'm usually pretty sure where the problem lies: with something I did myself.

I was saved a lot of time-consuming testing when the wire I wasn't stripping and fiddling with broke. It's always good to find a solid problem, and a dangling wire fits that description to a T. The fact that neither wire is coppery concerns me a bit, but I can put off pulling a new line for a little while longer. I have a plan to do so without crawling under the house, which I'm loathe to do, but there's no need to rush into it.

Most everything else I've built held together, including the roof. That's important (to me). Poor Timmy got soaked again, but I have a plan to prevent that, too.

In the meantime, I survived.