Editor, Gazette-Journal:

Sunday morning I packed up my chainsaw and headed to my friend’s house on Hickory Fork Road. As a resident of Gloucester during Isabel and Ernesto I knew I had witnessed Mother Nature at her worst. As I came around the pond and up the hill towards my friend’s house, I was not prepared for what I saw. The neighborhood was unrecognizable. I had driven through here the day before and now I had to come to a stop to search for my friend’s house. Isabel and Ernesto had not prepared me for the scene of destruction as I turned into my friend’s yard. Two blocks ago the azaleas are in bloom, the daffodils are fading. Here was the aftermath of an atomic blast.

Shortly after we began cutting up the trees, a truck pulling a trailer with a bobcat pulled up. The driver asked if he could help. I knew the next discussion would involve haggling over the price for his services. Instead he unloaded his bobcat and began moving the tree sections we had ...