Back to Normal...

 ...whatever that is.  I'm taking advantage of the cable while we have it.  It has been very hit or miss as the power company works to restore service to everyone.  They have said by Friday they will have restored service to 95% of those without.  That will have been seven days.  And, what about the other 5%?  This is the second greatest disruption in service behind Isabel back in 2003.  It's bad.  It's really bad.  Some neighborhoods were destroyed.  According to the local news, W'burg was one of the areas hardest hit--I think it's because we have so many trees.  There was a story of one house that had ten (TEN!) trees fall on it.  Holy cow!

Again I'm thankful for what I have and for coming through unscathed and unharmed.  I can lose sight of the fact we just had a hurricane when I'm snug in my home with my girls, making plans to meet teachers and getting us all on a school day routine.  I can't believe my Bitty will begin school in less than a week.  I'm SO excited for her (although, I'm a bit worried for Beanie and me--we are going to miss her like crazy)!

We will go tomorrow to meet her teacher and take a tour of the school.  We were unable to do so with the Monkey because of a tropical storm--it flooded out roads and made getting to school that afternoon/evening impossible.  How strange that we had similar weather this time around.  Thank goodness it hasn't had an impact on Lil's orientation--although, HS orientation was postponed.

Man.  I can't believe I'm going to have a kindergartner again.  Han's K year FLEW by.  I'm sure Lil's will be no different.  I can't believe the Monk would be a FIFTH grader.  Sheesh. 

 To move on from that...

Jana's babysitter has been without power so I've kept her girls the past two days.  Lily has been in heaven.  Sadie has been here with her.  All. Day. Woah!

 They play SO beautifully together and I'm so happy she gets to have this fun before the rigors of school begin.  :o)

And, we're back to school.  Obviously it's preying on my mind.  That, and college football--thank GOODNESS it's almost kick-off time!  Hurry up, already, Thursday! ;o)

And, because I didn't post one of the quagmire that was our backyard, here you go.  The water was 2"-3" deep in the workshop. 

It's time to start thinking about dinner...I'm so glad I was able to post.  Hooray for cable. :o)

**************************
Today's Sparklies:

1. Sally and Sadie and the girls playing. :o)
2.  Ellie crawling up in my lap with, "Mom-ME".  Sweet girl.
3.  Lil and Sadie did a beautiful job cleaning up the playroom.
4.  Cleaning up outside.  You should see the pile o' yard rubbish I have.  Lil and Sadie collected sticks and leaves for me.
5.  The hummingbirds...oooh, the hummingbirds.  Butterflies too!  It seems everyone is so happy the storm is over they are all congregating here.  It makes ME happy! :o)

No milestones.

Woke up this morning to no cable. This means no TV, no phone, and no Internet. Gah! But, i'd rather have no 'tubes than no juice.

Aftermath

 This is going to be a kitty heavy post.  I've snapped so many pics but haven't posted.  I figured I could continue to accumulate them, or I could post them.  I decided to go with posting.  But, first, an update on B and thoughts about hurricanes.

Brien is doing well, thank you all so much for asking.  Because of his aneurysm, he is very good about listening to his body and its needs.  He wasn't feeling "right", his b/p was 88/46, so we went in.  He was a bit worried (as was I) and they hooked him up to every monitor possible and by the time we left five hours later (no such thing as a quick trip to the ER, huh?) he was declared fit.

We think he simply overexerted himself trying to get the generator going and staying going (not that that sentence was at all grammatically correct).  When your b/p is kept low anyhow, bending over and yanking on a pull cord can really do a number on you.  :oS

He was home on paid administrative leave today (Langley floods in the blink of an eye) and took it easy and is doing very well.

As I may have mentioned, after Isabel we were without power for eight days.  EIGHT DAYS.  I was so insanely jealous of those that had power I could hardly stand it.  But, I never got mad at the power company.  I knew they were doing all they could to get the power up and running and they would get to us just as soon as they could.  Havoc had been wrought, trees were down, lines were down, it was bad. 

But, I was hot.  I was sweaty.  I was miserable.  And, I had a miserable two year old with me.  Heck, all of us in the neighborhood were in the same boat.  I came to associate the sound of generators and the smell of grilling meat with hurricanes. 

This time, we have power.  I can't believe it.  There is very little in the way of damage to our property, or to the property in the neighborhood.  Secluded back here, I can almost forget we had a hurricane and that it scared the bejeebers out of me.  I can almost forget there are those out there who are without power and will continue to be so until Friday at the earliest. 

It was brought home to me this afternoon as I headed out to the grocery.  I wanted to pick up some salad fixin's (I hadn't wanted to purchase any on the off chance we did lose power, generator notwithstanding) to go with dinner.  We headed into Martin's and discovered no power.  Okay. So, we drove to Farm Fresh and we found no power there as well.  We were greeted on our way in by a man who said, "If you need ice, you better get in there FAST." 

I remember being there 8 years ago.  I remember being desperate for ice and being amazed that there were folks who just didn't need it.  I thanked the man, never mentioning we still had power.  You just don't want to be those people. 

So, once more I feel so blessed.  I don't mind being a respite house for those who need a break from the heat and humidity.  Nana and Pop came over this morning (Pop to get the generator and to see if he could get it going for good), and Nana for coffee.  It's funny.  You wouldn't think you would miss coffee, but when you can't have it, you crave it.  They came back this evening for dinner. 

Right after Mom and Dad took off this morning, Sarah and Erik arrived for a nice visit, and for a break from a life of no power. 

Jana's (the neighbor--Sadie's mommy) babysitter still has no power, so I'll be keeping Sadie and Sally tomorrow.  Lily is ecstatic--so was Sadie.  :o)  We'll see how Sally and Ellie do together.

Brien heads back to work tomorrow, so life will head back towards normal up in our little neck of the world.  I know the rest of the east coast is really struggling, and my prayers for those who are in more dire straights than us. 

 Now, for the boys.  They are still the cuddliest, funniest kitties.  During the afternoon, when all is calm and quiet in the house, I can typically be found with a lap full of kitty.  Fred was on his back and George settled in right on top of him. :o)

 They love to help do laundry. Oh, and today they helped make our bed.  Sheets are tricky things, you know, and they need to be subdued. 

 Holly is a bit nonplussed at having been caught spooning with Fred. ;o)  We're going to have one giant furry pile by the time Christmas rolls around.

 Watching the window leak and the rain pound down.

 This is the art table.  That "portal" the George has his head in is where the garbage bag should go.  He's playing with the balls on Ellie's table toy. 

I was ready to put the toy away and find a good home for it, and Brien said I couldn't because the boys like to play with it. :oP

*******************************
Today's Sparklies:

1.  Have electricity.  Ah.
2.  My house looked like the hurricane had blown through inside as well as outside and I spent today putting everything to rights.
3.  Breakfast and dinner with Nana and Pop.
4.  A wonderful visit with Sarah and Erik.
5.  I got such GOOD sleep last night.

No milestones.

*******************************
Sarah told me today that the little boy who died in Newport News was one of her students.  She said he was a sweet and wonderful little guy.  My heart hurts so much for his mama. 

Thank You, God

 And, truly, I give thanks.  We weathered the storm and came through the other side.  It was utterly terrifying last night listening to the wind rip through the trees.  We lost power around 9:30 so, when Lil awoke to pitch darkness around 2, she freaked out.  Badly.  She thought her eyes were stuck shut.  She wound up in bed with us. 

As folks who continuously have a fan blowing on them, the still air made sleeping difficult.  The howling wind, the hot little body tucked up next to us, and not knowing what we were going to find on the morrow all combined for a rather sleepless night. (I feel like such a whiner given how much worse so many others had it.  :oS)

Sure, we had no power, but I was so grateful for the lack of damage, I didn't care--not really.  Here is our "damage".

Stick debris.

 The gate rattled and blew so much it splintered.

More leaf litter.

 My poor tomatoes.

 And morning glories.

 This made me ill.  This is Hannah's tree.  It's not uprooted, but it's not good.

 Brien and Hannah dug that hole and planted that tree.  You just had to ask her.

 The neighbors didn't fare as well.

 But, look, it only took out their fence and deck.  Their house is still fine.  Talking with Edwin, he feels blessed as well.

 The flooding/ponding had mostly subsided, but some remained.  It was hot and humid and wet so I left it to dry out.  I'll clean up tomorrow.

 The poor sunflowers.

 And playground.  I've got some work to do.

 The purple leaf plum is also listing.

And lost a section of leaves.

We went to check on the rest of the neighborhood, and everyone seems to have weathered the storm well.  We're blessed. We are all so very blessed.

Some thoughts from the day:

*The generator didn't work and B tried and tried and tried to get it running for more than 15 minutes at a pop which landed him in
*the ER.  His b/p plummeted and he was lightheaded and dizzy and we were worried about his aorta.  All is well, after 5 hours in the ER which was
*insanely crazy!  There were so many people there they had beds in the halls.  :o(
*Mom and Dad and Jana (Sadie's mama) came to our rescue with the girls.
*Being disconnected from the rest of the world is really really hard.  I had NO idea what was going on with Irene after she left us and I felt so lost.
*Mom and Dad fed us dinner and we came home to a 87 degree house.  I wondered how we were going to sleep.
*I threw open all the windows hoping to catch a breeze.
*The power was restored around 8:00 and I immediately flipped all the breakers and got the a/c going.  It's still a sauna upstairs, but should be good by morning.
*I think we learned from Isabel and Katrina and things went more smoothly than they might have otherwise.

I know things could have been so so so much worse and we are blessed to have power tonight.  Mom and Dad are still without, as are Sarah and her crew.  Our home is still standing and we are all in one piece.  Thank you, God.

And, thank you all so very much for your positive thoughts and prayers.  I'm off to check on the rest of the eastern seaboard to see how they fared.  

We were blessed. No major damage. Folks next door have downed trees though.

No Power. :sigh:

8:30 PM Saturday August 27, 2011

Last post of the evening.  The weather has deteriorated as the sun has set.  The wind is insane now, and since I can't see what it is doing, all I can do is hear, and the hearing has me stressing--I think it always sounds more intense than it is. The power has been flickering and I'm uncertain we'll have it as the evening progresses. 

The flooding is now most of the way up the sidewalk, and the yard is saturated (we don't want to talk about how I know this, although, Holly certainly enjoyed herself).  There is quite a bit of debris out there, and sure to be worse as the storm rages on.  I heard a branch hit the roof, and when I was out filming earlier, I happened to hear a large branch break off a dead tree next door.  So far I've seen no downed trees. 

Rt. 5 is closed between St. George's Hundred and the high school due to downed trees, limbs and power lines.  I believe I read something about a "tangle of power lines and trees".  Thank goodness they're not OUR power lines.  I've been checking here for info about issues in the area. 

Sarah and her family are down in NN and have been without power since 5:30 this morning.  Mom and Dad lost it for quite a while but have it back now.

I'm more frightened of the storm when it is dark and I can't see what is going on.  It will rage this evening and hopefully when we awake tomorrow, we can assess the situation and begin cleanup.  I pray we all sleep soundly this evening and awake to the sunny intensity that is the world post hurricane. 

4:30 PM Saturday, August 27, 2011

The power has been restored--for now.  We do in fact have a leak around the casement which is annoying and will need to be repaired with caulk when it's dry once more.

The next videos are of the back yard and front yard.





It looks as if the heaviest stuff has been coming down just to the north of us so we're in the 10" of rain area.  The wind will continue to pick up as the evening progresses and should be finished by EARLY tomorrow morning.  I'm not sure how the folks down in the Southside are faring, and I'm worried.  :oS

A little boy has died in Newport News when a tree fell on his apartment. :o( 

As far as this storm goes, it's about what I expected--maybe a little less windy--based on my experiences with Isabel.  I think folks learned from Isabel and Katrina and if they said you needed to evacuate, folks evacuated.  This is a very good thing. 

Oh, and here's a graphic I wanted to post for my future reference:

Irene is a BIG storm.  She may only be a Category 1 now, but she's still massive in size. 

Oh, and if we lose power again, I'll post through mobile posting as I did before. 

And now, for even more fun, we have a leak around a window casement in the living room. :oS

Well, we just lost power--and I think it's a bit more permanent than last time. Brien just tuned off the main.

12:30 PM Saturday, August 27, 2011

The rain is now coming down quite heavily, and the wind is gustier.  It is quite loud out there.  Irene is about 120 miles south of us so I expect it will be a very wet and windy evening. 

So far, we're all chillin'.  Lil is in heaven. It's a junk food heaven pajama TV watching kind of day.  As long as we have power, we'll enjoy it. :o)

8:30 Saturday August 27, 2011

The rain started late last night--after midnight--and we've had power flicker, but so far so good.  The rain is coming down steadily and the wind is fairly steady as well as evidenced in the video.  There are some gusts, but nothing awful--yet.  The storm is in North Carolina, just south of Hattaras, and moving extremely slowly.  We're experiencing the outer bands right now, and you can hear the wind blowing through the trees.  There is some leaf debris but no flooding or downed branches yet. 

Yes, I went outside to record.  I don't know if I'll feel safe enough to do it again--we'll see. While I was out there, two hummingbirds flitted by where we typically have the feeders, searching for food.  Poor babies. :o(

The junk food has been broken out and we're taking advantage of having internet and power by watching MythBusters.  It's certainly keeping Lil distracted. :o)

I'll keep you posted as I'm able.

The Calm Before the Storm

 I think we're as ready as we can be.  All swings are down.  All that can be covered or tied down or put away have been taken care of.

It was beyond humid this morning and now the clouds have rolled in.  Irene is on her way.

We'll go to dinner with Mom and Dad tonight and hunker down tomorrow.  I picked up junk food and hope to distract Lil as best I can tomorrow.  Her biggest concern seems to be flooding. 

Not me.  Mine is trees down and no power.  B got the generator going so at least we'll have the fridge.  It's going to be a doozy. 

For those of you for whom I have cell numbers, I will do my best to text.  Please know, though, that cell service tends to be overloaded during and right after hurricanes because land line service is rather limited because folks mostly have cordless phones these days--thank goodness we have a non-cordless phone.

I'll update and keep you posted as best I can given access to internet and power.   

A Bitty Fashion Show

 It is rather difficult to buy clothing for Miss Bit due to her rather petite stature.  Before I ordered any clothes for her, we weighed and measured her to pinpoint the best fit.  Well, she's such a skinny minnie, she is still in size 4, but with her height, she's just at the bottom end of size 5. 

 Because I like to get the most bang for my buck and want the clothes to be worn for longer than a minute, we went with the size fives.  As you'll see, they are oh, a wee smidge big.  I figure it's either too big, or too short within the blink of an eye.

Lil is now approaching the last size clothing we had for Hannah and I just can't put her in any of it.  Lil will wear none of Han's kindergarten clothing.  Brien and I are in agreement.  I have a tub from Sarah, but I wanted to get her some new things--new clothes for school were always such an exciting thing. :o)

I ordered from Naartjie--lordy I love their stuff, it's so funky and fun!--and it arrived today.  There were so many fun outfits Lil wanted to try them ALL on. :o)

 I do apologize for the fuzz factor.  I was snapping quickly because she was in constant motion she was so excited. :oP

 One of the things I really love about Naartjie is the attention to the smallest details.  How fun is this rhinestone heart?

 How about the ruffles and the bow?

 I love that we can roll the sleeves down and use it through autumn.

 I ADORE this outfit and would get it in ever color if I could. :o)

 (The spots are something on my lens...)

 I really like this one too.

 Oh, and this one.

 LOL!  Check out those pants.  The waist is a bit too big so they are falling down.  Oh, and we can't do adjustable waists like normal people would do because the buttons dig into her hip bones and she complains quite vocally, and then won't wear them because "they hurt".  In fact, now she checks all waistbands and asks, "Does this have buttons?"

 More fabulous details.

And this.  I love the little extra touches.

This outfit is a bit large as well.  She can take the hoodie to school with her as a little jacket.  Some classrooms can be a bit chilly (not that anyone I know would ever have such a classroom *ahem*) and this will be good for her to have. 

I look at my little bag lady and remember what Lissie always says, "Too big the first year, good fit the second year, just a little too small the third year." ;o)

*************************

In other news, I've decided being a grown-up is really not all it's cracked up to be.  Folks, I'm getting a bit panicky about Irene.  She IS going to hit us.  Look at this and this.  We're going to be smacked, and by the looks of it, it's going to be more than just a little blustery around here come Saturday. 

Lily is really flipping about about the storm, and I keep downplaying it because I'm the mama and that's what I do.  "There's just going to be a lot of rain and some wind, that's all." But, inside, I'm a scaredy cat.  I don't want to do this.  I don't.  I've done it before and it wasn't fun and I have a feeling this is going to be another not so fun situation. 

But, I've been calm and reassuring for my girls.  We went and got pantry staples today--soup, ravoli (how in the world did I ever eat that as a kid and love it as much as I did??), tuna, pasta, bread, hotdog buns, hotdogs, and water.  If the power goes out we can cook on the grill (we've done it before) once the rain stops. 

We have a load of 'sposie diapers because I don't know how we could manage cloth with no electricity or water.  Lil has brought in all her toys and tomorrow I'll finish taking down the outside items.  B will ratchet strap down the big grill.  It is going to be fine.  I know it is.  I always worry about things way more than I need to, just as Mom. 

The anticipation is always so much worse than the actual event.  Because I've been through storms before, I have an idea of what is coming, but of course I don't know for certain.  It's that dichotomy that has me frightened.  With any luck, the maximum sustained winds will drop significantly once Irene makes landfall down in NC and it won't be as bad here. 

I know I don't usually post on weekends, but I'm going to try to this weekend.  As long as we have power, I can get a blog post up.  :o)  Prayers and positive thoughts for all of us in this girl's path would be greatly appreciated (I'm insanely worried about Ocracoke and the Outer Banks...).

****************************

Today's Sparklies:

1.  Getting into and out of the grocery with relative ease given the craziness that is pre-hurricane shopping.  You should have seen the distilled water shelf.  They were down to about 20 jugs by the time I got there.  Ulp.

2.  Lil and her fashion show. :o)

3.  Miss Bean is still running a fever, but hasn't done her whiny/moaning thing today.  Yay!

4.  Having a friend I can talk to about religion and politics--thanks, Roob. :o)

5.  My friend Jori's husband is applying for a job down close to the 'burg, and while I'm insanely jealous, I'm also giddy for them.  Oh I HOPE he gets it!!! 

No milestones.