Wow!
The last couple of weeks have been absolutely nuts - weather wise.
It all started with a 5.9 earthquake on August 23rd. Sure, we've had little rumbles here and there over my lifetime, but , nothing that could be felt like that! I was down in the city not too far from DC working at the office I contract with when Mother Nature's tummy started to rumble. Quite honestly, I didn't know what it was at first. I thought the HVAC unit on top of the building which sits directly over the office I use was having some type of hissy-fit until I could start feeling the entire building starting to shake. I still wasn't thinking earthquake, but, perhaps one of the service techs was bringing in a large piece of equipment into the shop downstairs. I ran down the steps to the shop to find it empty and the large bay doors rattling and swaying quite wildly. It was then that I realized it was an earthquake! I made my way outside and noticed that others from neighboring buildings were all standing outside with looks of dis-belief on their faces.
It was over in 20-30 seconds, but, felt like it was an eternity. I freely admit I was a bit freaked out by it all. I'm sure folks on the West coast were having a grand laugh at our little ground shake :-)
Meanwhile, Old Irene was out there in the Atlantic churning away and appeared to be heading right our way. Now, I live far enough inland that I really don't consider hurricanes a dangerous threat. Actually, we tend to have hurricane parties and we did this also with Irene. Well, not quite a party this time, just two friends of ours came over to have some libation, conversation, and wait for the storm to blow in. It also happened to be the hubsters birthday, too, Saturday the 27th, when Irene made her presence known.
Our friends left a little before Midnight to head home and the hubsters and I were up and about for a bit longer before we decided to hit the hay. Up until this time, it was raining, but, we weren't getting any winds stronger than about 35mph. About one thirty Sunday morning, Irene really started to blow. It was then she blew out our power and continued to belt out her fury into most of Sunday.
We prepare for power outages when bad weather is predicted and this time wasn't any different. We have 2-3 days of water available for consumption and for flushing toilets. (no power, no well pump) We've never been any longer than two and a half days without power, so, we weren't overly concerned. Later on Sunday morning we called the power company's automated line to get the designated time they expected our power to be back and was quite surprised when they told us Friday, September 2nd by 11:30pm. Oops....
Surely it wouldn't be that long. Ha!
Tuesday morning found us throwing the contents of the fridge into the trash and desperately looking for a generator so we could try and keep a freezer filled with meat and frozen summer bounty from having the same outcome as the fridge. We got lucky and found one to the tune of $800.00, but, it could run the freezer and our work computers. Score!
When Friday evening rolled around, the power company updated the repair time to Saturday. When Saturday rolled around, they updated it to 3am Sunday morning. When 3am Sunday morning rolled around, they updated it to 11am. When 11am rolled around, we were told a crew was on site and it shouldn't be any later than 1pm.
At 2:53pm Sunday, our power was finally restored. There were two things I wanted to do most - flush the toilets and take a shower. Now, not to sound totally gross here, we were flushing the toilets with buckets of water. First with the water we saved in the tub, which lasts two and a half days. The remainder of the time we used water from the hot tub, which of course, was no longer hot. But, it did the job and kept the house from smelling entirely like a latrine :-) That hot tub water also wound up being our saving grace for taking "bucket" showers. But, let me tell you, that got old really fast. It goes to show how much one really takes for granted unless you lose it! We've also learned that we can rough it for a week and a day without killing each other. However, we did come close. Just kidding. It does fray ones nerves a bit, though...
Now we're in the throws of the remnants of TS Lee and it's been raining non-stop since Monday. I mean roads, towns, etc. are flooding big time. Inches at a time, lingering and lingering, and not wanting to move too far on. I woke at 4:45 this morning and realized, once again, we were dark. I found my penlight, made a familiar phone call then went back to bed since we were told no power until 7:30. It did come back, but, a bit later than we were told. Ha! We're pros at this no power stuff!
It's almost unbelievable, the weather and its sense of humor.
If you recall, we had a tornado here at the homestead earlier this year. No damages or losses, just two people (and two dogs) scared out of their wits as it ripped through.
I'm should be bracing myself for what's to come. After all, it's only September. We still have the beginning of Winter and his sense of humor.
I'm starting to wonder if Gaia is pissed-off....
BTW - thanks for all the words of congratulations on our granddaughter and thinking of us during this time of being inconvenienced.
My thoughts are for those in the Northeast who have lost so much and are still enduring this deluge of water and for those in Texas who haven't any precipitation and the efforts of the fire fighter's trying to protect everyone. May you all get the relief you need soon.
Peace
