Well, that's one way to meet the neighbors!

So I was working from home, was getting ready to take out the trash and heard a loud crash outside near the house -- which I thought could quite possibly be my air conditioner falling out of the window - probably impossible but I worry about it nonetheless.  It was actually a piece of the neighbor's dead tree falling on the power lines to my house ripping the line to the meter from the house and dragging the power lines across the road - notice how it also fell right across the trash.

One of the neighbors called 911 -- it took the police about 30 minutes and another call to the non-emergency  number to arrive (apparently it was shift change time), I called the power company who told me they would put in an order but the lines to the house weren't their responsibility -- even if they were live wires -- they showed up after about 90 minutes.  By the end we had the police fire department, phone, power and cable companies all represented along with various neighbors who came out to watch the drama -- I live in a pretty uneventful neighborhood.  The most amusing was young girl (maybe 10 or 11) wearing pink pants, a pink shirt with a picture of Nerds the candy and a pink fedora.  She was assessing the situation and giving updates to anyone new who came out.  She also took it upon herself to write thank you notes (and took them around for us to sign) to give to the police and firefighters who were there which I thought was very thoughtful of her. 

In the end they had to turn off the power until the landlords could get an electrician to hook the lines back up to the house.  I packed up the freezer and fridge and headed to a friends to be cool for the night and to have power to do my hair int he morning - and at the very least I had to save my opened jam! 

When I got back this morning the power was on - although it looks more like a temporary fix (which may or may not be legal) rather than a permanent one.  You can decide for yourself from the pictures below.