You might think that living in a rural area with 5 acres of woodland around you would protect you from this kind of crud, but don't hold your breath.... There's still the insurance company to deal with. My adventure started when a tree took out my front porch during a storm. I made the dreaded mistake of actually trying to _use_ the policy that I had been paying on for 8 years. The company paid up, but a month later I received a letter from the insurance company informing me that my policy was being canceled due to the use of my home as a "storage facility". I argued with the company for a bit and got them to agree to re-evaluate there decision. What they did was to send out a wet-behind-the-ears inspector who then proceeded to tell me that the company _might_ re-instate my policy if I (1) replaced my roof (it was fine, by the way), (2) re-side my house with vinyl (3) Remove the 2 lawn mowers from my yard (remember, I live in the middle of 5 acres of woodland with no neighbors and a 1200 foot dirt driveway) and worst of all, remove all the (and I quote) "Useless electronic junk" from my home. I asked him what he considered acceptable, and he responded with all the rightous arrogance that only the very young and newly powerful can have that one, or at the most two computers would be acceptable, as long as they were small desktops. Needless to say, I asked him to leave. The story does have a happy ending though. I contacted the insurance company one last time and told them that I was going to complain to the state insurance commisioner. They told me to go ahead... the insurance comissioner never forced them to recend any of their decisions, and was merely a "rubber-stamp" organization. I then proceeded to call the insurance commisioners office. While talking to the nice lady on the phone, I repeated verbatim what the insurance company official had said to me. The conversation went like this: "She said WHAT about us?" <I repeated the insurance company's statements> "Oh really?... And what was her name" <I provided the details> "Hmm... well, they might feel that way, but I ASSURE you that we are NOT a rubber-stamp organization..." A few days later I received a letter from the Insurance Commisioner's office stating that my Insurance company had illegally cancelled my policy and had been ordered to re-instate it. (This seemed to amaze my independent insurance agent... I guess it was a pretty rare occurance) Needless to say, as soon as the policy was re-instated I cancelled it myself and changed to another company, but At least I got some satisfaction out of the mess. Moral of the story... If a tree falls in the forest on your deck, make certain the insurace company doesn't hear it :) -al-