Corsair seems to be improving daily. The vet will probably be back out today or Tuesday to re-examine him. His eyelid is still very swollen but all of the inflamed conjunctiva has gone down and it only appears to be oozing some tears. Will know more when the vet takes a look.


So all things considered we did ok through Hurricane Irene - except for the big ole tree that split in half and fell on the house.


It was around 11:30am - everyone was doing great - horses grazing (yes even in the rain and wind) Corsair and his buddy in their stalls eating hay, cats and dog lounging in the house, me and Garry watching news coverage and football - we were so lucky to have power! I was reclining on a couch by a big bay window when I heard a weird noise. Garry got up and took a look out the front door and FLEW  across the living room shouting at me to get up and away from the side of the house - but of course, I had to look too. The massive oak next to the house was splitting in two, with each gust of wind it creaked and split a little further. I quickly chased the animals to a room on the other side of the house and ran out with Garry and the dog. Called our landlords who live on the property and they came out and we all took a good look from a safe distance. Garry and the landlord came up with the brilliant idea to try and strap the tree with some heavy duty line that we have and help delay the inevitable. Oh yeah this is crazy! So Garry gets the line and ladder and rock rake (for me to help push the line up high) and he and I wind this line around the tree. We couldn't go up super high because Garry wanted to be able to jump down if the tree started to go and he did jump and I ran away several time during the process in some of the larger gusts - got it done and it helped for about 40 minutes - then - we were all safely away - it came down - kinda gently - the larger branches touching the ground first, breaking the fall. Amazingly, no windows broke, the chimney seems intact and very minor roof damage (we hope - can't see daylight anywhere!). I have attached some photos and the landlord has already contacted tree service who came out around 5pm to survey.Corsair seems to be improving daily. The vet will probably be back out today or Tuesday to re-examine him. His eyelid is still very swollen but all of the inflamed conjunctiva has gone down and it only appears to be oozing some tears. Will know more when the vet takes a look.