I just got home from dinner and a couple glasses of a wonderful Argentine wine with my friends Mike and Lynda who live in my 'hood. The occasion? Ike finished the job he started in Hispaniola, Houston and Galveston by blowing through here at 60 mph early Sunday evening and leaving around two million Ohioans without power. Damage and destruction were rampant across the county and state with schools and many businesses closed. My street was no exception with huge tree limbs down (one was too close for comfort to Miss Ruby), lines down, and roofs damaged. Predictions were that we might not have power for 5-7 days so Lynda got busy cooking everything in her fridge (she has a gas stove) to take to a friend's freezer and invited Mike and I to eat some of it. I contributed the wine and Mike brought some fabulous pastries. Good friends, good food and good wine makes hard times easier to handle.
Coming home to lights on in the house was a pleasant surprise. I called Lynda who only lives a couple blocks away and asked, "Do you have lights? I do!!!" She laughed and said they came on as I pulled away from the curb. I really didn't notice until I got home and saw my front porch light glowing. I'd spent the day preparing for seven days of darkness by replenishing my supply of candles, batteries, etc. As it is, everything in my fridge is going with the garbage man in the morning. Sigh. Over twenty-four hours without refrigeration is not good.
What did I miss most? My coffee pot and my computer. Starting the day without a cuppa is cruel and unusual punishment in my book and and yeah, I'm addicted to my computer as I think y'all know. :-)
I feel sorry for those who are still in the dark. It isn't fun. I'll be glad when things get back to normal for everyone.
On a humorous note, my neighbors Red and Carol's son, lil' Red and his buddy were wandering down the street and I overheard lil' Red say, "I feel like I'm Amish." I dashed inside and laughed like hell.
Hopefully we'll return to normalcy (or what passes for it) around here soon.
Happy Blogging!!!!!!!!
Kay
P.S.: Sarah Palin blew into town late this afternoon for a Republican fund raiser at the poshest country club and I'll give y'all the skinny on that tomorrow!!!!!
Sorry about the lost food and computer time.
ReplyDeleteWe lost our power on Saturday for about two hours here in Ontario and we took advantage of it and had a siesta.
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't mind doing that every day.
The Mexicans have the right idea on how to spend a couple of hours every afternoon.
Bear((( )))
We had four days of often heavy rain. Much of Munster, Indiana, just a little west of me, is under water from the Little Calumet River that crested at 17 feet (12 above flood stage). Our governor is due to fly over the areas in Lake and Porter Counties (and maybe others) to assess the damage before declaring emergencies. Seven Illinois counties have already been so designated by their governor. Part of 80/94 from just north of me into Illinois is still closed due to high water. Your high winds did make our news out here. Thankfully winds were not bad here. The water was enough. Thankfully also we our place did not flood.
ReplyDelete"I feel like I'm Amish."
ReplyDeleteLOL!!! That's priceless!
I'm glad to know that you didn't have any long-term damage. Seems like everyone I know came out pretty well, although people around didn't so much.
I go without power every so often in the winter after ice storms. We are lucky to have a woodburning stove; so we don't freeze and can cook outside on the outdoor barbecue or propane camp stove but it's the lights I miss. Boy is that hard to deal with when it's so dark anyway. We did buy a generator finally to have minimal power off and on but haven't had a power outage since. I think it's like washing your car to get rain maybe.
ReplyDeleteJudy: I prolly needed the break
ReplyDeleteBear: an over 24 hr. nap seems a bit extreme. We still have a lot of people without power.
Mary: I spoke with my son's mother-in-law over the weekend because I called to talk to d-i-l Jen and Carol was there to help with the boys while Jen was working over in Portage. Carol told me about the awful rain and flooding over there.
You got Ike's rain and we got Ike's winds. Can you imagine how awful if both states got both? Yikes!!!!!!!!!!
Glad to hear the storm caused you minimal damage and that your power wasn't off to long. Out here we had to deal with the biggest passenger train wreck in the last 17 years, which happened about 12 miles from where I live. It hasn't been finalized yet but they suspect the reason is , was the conductor was to busy texting with some kids and missed the red light telling him there was another train on the track----human error. 25 dead close to 200 injured---(sigh)----I am looking forward to hear your Gov. Palin comments, and impression of the crowd who turn out to hear her remarks. Love her or hate here, she has certainly got the public awake and involved in the election, and thats a good thing.
ReplyDeleteSo glad it wasn't worse Kay. Being away for the weekend, I didn't know exactly what to expect when I got home on Sunday. My area and the surrounding areas got hit pretty hard, but I was very lucky and didn't have any flooding. My brother-in-law a few towns over had 6 feet of water in his basement....it damaged everything. This was a very common thing for this area....many people lost their entire homes....I'm just heartbroken for everyone. Take care sweetie...
ReplyDeleteYep, nothing like a good power outage to help you set priorities. I would have a hard time deciding which I missed the most: coffee or the computer. McCain was in Jax yesterday to a huge, enthusiastic turnout. Now we're waiting for Sara. Will be checking back for your review.
ReplyDeleteAfter all the hullabaloo that Austin would get tropical storm strength winds, up to 10 inches of rain, and massive flooding, I am almost guilty that we got nothing, and you folks in Ohio are experiencing what we COULD have. So sorry--glad you weren't worse hit than you were.
ReplyDeleteOne of my happiest memories in recent years is the closeness of our neighborhood after Hurricane Isabel. We all grilled on the cul de sac, helped each other chopped downed trees ... it was great.
ReplyDeleteCoffee? The line at the only place in town with power--7 Eleven-- snaked around the building. We're addicted!