For years, Danielle Davis-Conklin lived in her Eddyville home with her husband, two children, dog and three cats. They had paid off the mortgage, and as a middle-class family, Conklin said her husband especially put “blood, sweat and tears” into making the house a home, doing renovations and improvements themselves. They even went through Hurricane Irene, where the first floor of the house was flooded. Recently, Davis-Conklin had a new stove put in. But she was only able to use it once before a dead tree on a neighboring property destroyed their home.

Davis-Conklin said she and her husband knew the tree was dead for five years and urged their neighbor, whom they were friendly with, to do something about it. Her husband even offered to take the tree down himself as long as the neighbor rented a lift. Davis-Conklin also tried to reach out to the county to have the tree removed, but as the tree was located on private property, they were unable to do so.

“About five years ago, the base of the tree had significant decay. You could see visible holes, and then progressively, it got worse, and then it started having no leaves on it,” Davis-Conklin said. “Repeatedly, the homeowner kept reassuring him he would take care of it. ‘Yep, we'll talk about it.’ And then last year, my husband had nagged him.”

(Kingston Wire made repeated attempts to reach the neighbor for comment. We received no response.)

Davis-Conklin believed the tree could pose a potentially fatal hazard despite the neighbor’s apparent laissez-faire attitude. On March 12, a few minutes shy of 10 p.m., those fears came true when she heard “the worst explosive noise I've ever heard in my life.”

The house became black and filled with debris, Davis-Conklin’s daughter screamed loud enough for Davis-Conklin to hear from the other side of the house while she, her husband and son were in the living room. After escaping the house, they found that the tree crushed Davis-Conklin and her husband’s bedroom and punctured the first floor of the home and destroyed their septic system.

None of the family members were harmed, which Davis-Conklin credits to the TV show “The Pitt.” Davis-Conklin and her husband were about to go to bed when he wanted to watch the latest episode. Had they gone to sleep, the tree would have fallen directly on them.

The night the tree collapsed, Davis-Conklin said there were no storms or winds that could have caused it. As she put it, “the tree came down because it was dead,” and she said dozens of other neighbors could attest to this as well, with photo and video proof. For Davis-Conklin, the situation is more than simple negligence, but a wider divide between locals and the increasing population of second home-owners and weekend visitors, her neighbor belonging to the latter group.

“The people that are coming into Ulster County, it's great for our area because they're bringing in more tourism, but they're having these weekend homes, and they're really not maintaining their property,” Davis-Conklin said. “There should be more legislation that if you have a weekend home, there needs to be somebody that does maintenance for your property. That looks at your property.”

The difference between the two groups: Davis-Conklin, unlike weekend residents or second-home owners, did not have another place to bring her family. Due to their pets, finding another place to live was challenging. Now, they live in a two-bedroom hotel with no kitchen appliances aside from a fridge and microwave, forcing them to eat out for every meal and live on a mattress while they attempt to rebuild their lives. Davis-Conklin and her husband lost the majority of their clothes and all of their furniture.

According to Davis-Conklin, the neighbor initially expressed remorse, called his insurance company and even gave a small donation to their GoFundMe, but when “he realized that we had gotten to the point where we feel he's more responsible than the insurance company,” communication ceased.

At one point, while Davis-Conklin’s husband was working on Memorial Day, the neighbor joked to him about needing to take down the other trees, which Davis-Conklin said was like a “smack to the face.”

While Davis-Conklin said she and her husband are not the type to sue, they felt they had no choice, saying “I'm not asking [the neighbor] to give me million dollars. I'm asking you to replace what you broke.”

“I don't want a single dollar more than what it's going to cost to replace my home,” Davis-Conklin said. “I'm not asking for granite countertops. You don't even want to give me a bed? Fine, I'll sleep on the floor, but it'll be my home again.”

The neighbor’s insurance company was not a great help either. Davis-Conklin said the insurer called them the day after the incident and asked them to send photos, but would not send an adjuster to look at the damage. As she did not feel comfortable with that, she hired her own adjuster and structural engineer to get a more complete understanding of the damage done to their home.

What followed, Davis-Conklin said, was “deny and deflect” from the insurance company, who has not given them any financial support.

Davis-Conklin also tried to reach out to local officials, such as U.S. Rep. Pat Ryan, Ulster County Executive Jen Metzger, state Sen. Michelle Hinchey and even the housing non-profit RUPCO to see what was available to assist families in situations like hers. Davis-Conklin learned that there was nothing.

Davis-Conklin started a GoFundMe to keep up with living expenses, which has so far raised about $16,000 of its $42,000 goal. Davis-Conklin said the donations “stalled” after a while, and she does not expect it to last forever. As they have pets and are living in a hotel, Davis-Conklin is unable to work. While their daughter tries to help, she also has her own living expenses.

Beyond the financial toll, Davis-Conklin said she has intense trauma from the event, now being scared of loud noises, and the depression of living in a hotel. Davis-Conklin has not been able to cook for her family for over 200 days, and with Thanksgiving coming up, those aspects of ordinary life are what she misses.

“I cried last night like a baby, because I miss pork chops. I miss being able to cook a pork chop in a stove. I miss the simple things, stovetop stuffing. I miss making my own sauce,” Davis-Conklin said. “With the holidays coming, I know mentally, I'm not going to be okay with it. Living in a hotel, not being able to visit family or have money for presents, and [we] won't even be able to sit around for Thanksgiving.”

Davis-Conklin said the damage of the house is too extensive to repair and an apartment financially out of reach, the family living “paycheck to paycheck” even before the house was destroyed.

Instead, they are trying to have the home torn down before the winter and replace it with a smaller, modular home. It will be single-story and 1,600 square feet, significantly smaller than their previous home, which was two stories and 2,100 square feet, without any “bells and whistles,” but enough for them to start to rebuild their lives.

“I don't care about the extra stuff. I want four walls of my own. I want to be able to walk outside. I want to be able to let my dog out, not on a leash anymore,” Davis-Conklin said. “I want to be able to leave my house and go to a store without having to make plans for my husband not to work one day.”

As of now, Davis-Conklin said there has been no progress on the lawsuit. She has also spoken to CBS in Albany, in hopes that her story will resonate with other people to not make the same mistake as her neighbor and put another family through the same situation.

“I'm hoping my story can resonate with someone else, and hopefully that they take a look at their property and they do whatever they can to to listen to the concerns of their neighbors,” Davis-Conklin said. “If you're a weekender you need to have somebody that maintains your property. There needs to be somebody held accountable. It's not fair at all.”