We were saddened by the damage Mother Nature inflicted upon us in the last few days when she sent the North Atlantic surging over our shores. Thankfully, no one perished.

Our hardworking town road crews, helped by outside contractors and, hopefully, a check or two from the state and/or the feds, will help repair the roads. Southport will have to repair the town dock, and it will take a boatload of cash to do the job. Private homeowners who enjoyed private docks for their sailboats and run-abouts are scrambling to find out what happened to them, what is next, and how much it will cost.

Many will find, as my pal Jim Singer did, that friendly insurance agents are using the words “act of god,” to sidestep claims for docks that floated away.

It is too early to estimate the financial losses for towns and individuals. You can bet the town boards and managers will do a double quick step in their quest to find another pocket of money to foot the anticipated bills. We wish them well.

But there is a lesson for us all. Something is going on with the weather.

I am not going to get into a rant about climate change and how we are going to perish if we don’t do something this week – like changing our economy by discarding dependence on fossil fuels while embracing future technology we hope will take its place.

Yes, change is coming. The marketplace will dictate the future. Big auto is tip-toeing into electric cars to see if they can make them perform well enough to encourage us to buy one or three. It looks like they are going down that route by investing millions in new technology, including battery production facilities.  Of course, last week’s TV footage showing gaggles of frozen Teslas and their kin waiting for ice-covered charging stations will give many of us pause.

Something is happening, but nothing will happen overnight.

We forget it took decades and billions to build thousands of miles of local, state and interstate highways. It took decades to perfect the family car we depend upon. Some of the senior set can remember when a set of tires would last just 10,000 miles when the family station wagon was traded in when it reached 60,000 miles, and when you were happy when you got more than 10 miles on a gallon of gas. Does anybody remember buying used oil?

And we seem to forget how the local neighborhood filling station was augmented by vast networks of fueling choices that make it easy to get in the family SUV on Southport and drive to the Midwest or Southland without worrying about running out of gas.

Back to the point of this rant, something happened earlier in the month that should give us pause and a chance to figure out what we could and should do to protect ourselves for the next weather event.

Happily, some plans are being formulated. The Boothbay Harbor sewer district has quietly been working to protect its treatment plant. They are also seeking federal money to foot the bill and our congressional delegation is working to see that happen.

Yes, we have a lot on our plate. Schools need to be updated and repaired. We have to figure out how to foot the bill. Bridges have to be upgraded, and water lines need to be expanded. Thankfully the feds are using our tax money to help us.

Yes, we have a lot on our plate. But there is still time. Mother Nature not only hammered our roads and docks, she handed down a death sentence to one of our longstanding landmarks. I am talking about the sagging little grey house that sat on the side of the bridge in East Boothbay. It was one of the string of now vanished structures that once made up the village. Of course, 50 years ago, the mill that once disgorged miles of board feet of timber used to build mighty schooners was demolished. And there were once several little grocery stores and even a pool hall where kids were not allowed.

Some knew the little grey house as the Pixie House. No matter how you remember it, Mother Nature took care of it. It took a few solid whacks from an excavator to knock it down. Now, all that is left to do is clean up and figure out how to fill the big hole. But the disappearing little house and the big hole are just another sign that change is happening.

How we meet that change is up to us. But ignoring the situation is not an option.