Well, we made it through with only a couple of minor hiccups. The worst of it hit us sometime after midnight, but thankfully not much other effect than the power going off. It started flickering about 9:30 or so, and then shut off right in the middle of my effort to download that image editing program I mentioned yesterday. BAH! After about five minutes, everything came back on, so I cranked the computer back up and started again. Which was fine, because I got a quicker line that time. While the program was downloading AGAIN I decided I would go to this website and copy down the information on how to get the dashboard out of the Volvo. Due to the way it was laid out, it didn't print correctly, so I started trying to do a cut and paste in Word and had just about gotten it finished when the power went down again at about 10:45. No, I hadn't thought to save my work--why do you ask?
Well, the power flickered on a couple of more times during the night but never actually came back on full steam, and as of this morning it was still pining for the fjords. And we had just made a giant pot of homemade soup last night and put in the refrigerator. ::sigh::
Right before I climbed into bed, we heard a loud bumping sound downstairs. Reba thought I was about to go see what it was, but I figured whatever it was could wait until this morning. Turns out it was our portable propane grille and the smoker that had both tumped over. And even though the wind was still blowing pretty danged hard and it was still misting rain, I went ahead and righted them both, and looked around outside to see if anything else went astray. Nope. Although the wire trellis we have beside the Not A Storage Shed had fallen over, so I put that back up. Didn't look like too much other damage in the neighborhood--our neighbor across the street lost a limb off his Bradford pear, but what do you expect?! Crappy trees. They also had a few shingle tabs blowing up from the wind, but as far as I could tell, ours were all still holding on.
School closed today, so the kids are spending the day with Grandma, which I'm sure will be great fun for somebody.
We were certainly blessed to have been spared what others have had to endure, and will have to endure in the coming days. As always, if you have a desire to help folks who've been hurt, the best thing to do is send money, either via the Red Cross or through your place of worship. Remember, people need shelter first, so it does them no good to have tons of clothes that they can't store or use. FEMA has a list of other ways to help and tips for making sure your donation of time or money is well spent.
UPDATE: 8:49 a.m.--just got a call-back from the APCo automated response center telling me the power's back on at the house. Maybe the soup will still be okay. As well as all the stuff in the freezer.
My power's out too, but that is nothing compared to what Mobile and New Orleans face. I have really appreciated Brendan Loy's blog, at
http://www.brendanloy.com/
He has done a tremendous job of reporting--better than most media outlets--on the situation in New Orleans.
Posted by: Stan at August 30, 2005 08:30 AMWhich is not surprising given that most media outlets seem less interested in reporting actual news than in sending reporters out into the wind and rain to tell us the wind is blowing and it's raining, or, alternately, showing us the hoary old "speed limit sign wobbling in the wind" shot.
Posted by: Terry Oglesby at August 30, 2005 08:33 AMYou know it's old when the car passing in front of the sign is a Model T.
Posted by: skinnydan at August 30, 2005 11:54 AMDriven by the lovely and youthful Helen Thomas.
Posted by: Terry Oglesby at August 30, 2005 12:10 PMIf I had a house instead of a apt. I'd think long and hard on a stand by genny. I keep reading more and more of 10-15 day waits for power to come back. A small genny might just be a life saver or at least a frozen food saver *grin*.
Posted by: Tony von Krag at August 30, 2005 08:10 PM