Shrubbery becomes half-shrubbery

[Edit on Saturday: This post completely disappeared, along with the comments that'd already been left. So let's try this again...]

Talked to Matt today. He seems to be putting my torch to good use — he and his buddy are putting in 20 hours a day on my little Hothead and have made several hundred dollars by selling the resulting glasswork. Good for him. But tomorrow, I'm going to beg for the torch back. I've got a history with that torch — it was a gift — and if he's doing well, he deserves a nicer torch anyway.

Last night, a fairly large storm came through the area. It was windy and rainy, and a couple of areas had tornado watches. When we woke up this morning, all three of our 15-foot privets were split. One lost one limb; the other two looked as if they were pretty much split in half.

This weekend is supposed to be a repeat of last weekend: snow, sleet, rain, freezing rain, all of the above. (By the way, what's the difference between sleet and freezing rain? The weatherman listed them separately, but I thought sleet was frozen rain.) If it's not terrible outside, I guess we'll get out the chainsaw and cut up the broken branches. This should be an exercise in hilarity, as I don't think I can heft the chainsaw on my own and Paul's allergic to privet.

Okay, I'm going home. It's been (another) helluva week, and I'm going to soothe myself with the Olympics.