Hunkering down for Irene and checking in

Judy---
I am due to go to work at 9AM-6PM - tomorrow. They may call me and say not to come in. Hope not!!!
WHO would be shopping on Sunday with all that is going on????

I will go in--as I only live 4+ miles from my house to my HD. AND--I trust my Subaru Outback to navigate anything that
comes it's way. High back end--4 wheel drive--anti-Lock brakes--confident driver---etc....

We started having rain about noon today Off and on--nothing heavy. Generally--looking like Dooms Day....
As I write this--5:30PM--the rain is now heavier. Lots of puddles in my back yard. Trees softly swaying in the winds....
It is like a "tease".....Wait until later---HAAAA! I know I will be asleep--IF I can sleep-when the worst hits.

I have done all I can do outside to hunker down all my plants and yard stuff. My shed is stuffed with my tall Brugs!
They will have to survive in there until Monday late morning....

Today--I have been pacing, nervously, all over--making sure I have thought of everything I need to think of.
Mostly--inside the house.....The outside is by now in God's hands.

I have gotten all my Flash lights together and made sure they all work. Have put them in all necessary areas.
I have gotten a bunch of candles and put them in strategic areas as well...along with matches...
I have cleared the area between my Sump Pump and my Laundry sink in case power goes out and I have to bail water....
I have made lunch for tomorrow with the thought that there may NOT be any electricity tomorrow AM.

On that topic--if all that happens---I will be taking a mirror--and my curling iron and some hair spray to work tomorrow.
You DO NOT want to see my hair "au naturel"......AAAGGGHHHHHH! I look like a wet Rat!

After I did all this--I have resigned and am now spending time watching TV and shelling out seeds from all my
collected/dead-headed Cone Flower (Echinaceas) seed-heads at work. Believe it or not--the seeds on these are NOT
where you may think they are!!!!
I have taken step-by-step pictures to post (some day) as a tutorial to this. It is just amazing where you can find seeds on plants!
Can't wait to get to work and dead-head all the rest of these flowers. It is such a treasure trove!!! SOOO many seeds to be had!!

I do not think that tomorrow (Sunday) I will be scheduled in Garden---but I may be on Tuesday.
Will have my scissors handy to clip away! Don't think I will have to water anything.....:o)

HEY!!! I am just helping the flowering plants to look their best! Right!!!!
Whether I trash the cut off dead blooms--or I take them home--WHO CARES?????

Please--all of you--take care and be well in these next 24 hours!!!!

Gita

It is now almost 8PM.....I am tired of watching So-So Saturday evening TV. Nothing great on!!!

Finishes removing sees from my dried Cone Flowers...

I just heard rain beating on my windows---may be the beginning of the storm!
I am going to do what I do best-----give up trying to find something to do and go to bed!!!!

I know it is early--but I will do it anyway. I am sure when the worst of the storm hits--I will wake up again and again....
Hope it is NOT as bad as predicted!

Good night all! Hope all is well for you by morning!

Gita

LOL yeah def don't have to worry about watering anything

2.14" already!

The Bay Bridge is closed to all traffic...winds exceeding 55mph. Delaware travel is restricted to emergency personnel. Heaviest period for us here is 8pm til 4 am.

We keep hearing noises on the roof that sound huge but turn out to be nothing much. Resisting the urge to check out everything as both doors open right in to the wind which is a lot stronger than earlier. Am wearing a hard hat when I do go out.

Jen, I think we've had about the same amount of rain as you. Someone said they were amazed at how wet one could get with the small drops we're seeing with this storm as opposed to a downpour.

Massive power outages around Richmond Virginia and a report of white caps on the Potomac,

On a different note , my "comfort food" (spaghetti and meatballs} just isn't doing it for me. What are you all doing ? And no icecream in the freezer to save from possible melting!!

Wayne can't find his rain slicker so is wearing a trench coat with shorts and sandles. Classic.

if the power goes out.. I will be doing lots of grilling tomorrow.. after things settle down.. we do have a generator but it's really really loud.. don't want to run the thing 24 / 7

Annapolis is getting 55+ wind gusts right now. I lost my appetite.

Might be a short sleep for you Gita.

Always so good to hear from otheres keeping watch while we rest...

it just doesn't seem very windy over here, still. Rain measured over 3 inches and thats over an hour ago, with plenty more since, and coming. DH is the weather geek here.

I made a 'wacky cake' chocolate cake with no eggs. Just wanted to bake something in case i can't cook tomorrow.

I hope we can all sleep sometime. Ginger thanks for your concern, I bet you've been thorugh much worse than this.

About 10 30 this morning, on an east facing bay beach, looking north.

pretty shot

Just found out there is water seeping in in a corner in the closet where our well pump is. Great! and that's the side that faces east
Wind is picking up now. I was on the phone with my brother(more southern NJ) and the phone went dead on his end

Power still on here....house looks like a tropical forest LOL - where will they all go come winter? Ugh! And how did they get so big this season? Been praying the humans, critters and trees (that they remain upright) today...keep safe everyone

It's raining pretty steady and hard with a bit of wind but not anything real big yet.

We had a tornado warning for our exact area, I did see a bright green flash in the distance which indicates tornadic activity, they told everyone to get to the lower area in your house. That was a little unnverving to say the least.

3.78"

My hurricane watchers are ever vigilant!

good luck to all.. power is going on and off now

Well we made it through the storm with no damage. I was so concerned about the tress close to the house. I am use to the flooding in the yard so that is like just another day. I stayed up almost all night watching the weather seeing where it was and how bad it was. I hope everyone is ok and the damage at your home was small or none at all.

Sallyg, I have been making wacky cakes since I was a small child. Most people dont know what it is...lol But then again I am also from MD. Born and raised on the eastern Shore.
It is great warm, with ice cream or cool whip on top.

This message was edited Aug 28, 2011 6:33 AM

Hope everyone over her is doing OK. I just read a piece of news that I wanted to share with you all....some DG'ers might not get on for a bit as power loss is widespread.:


"Hurricane Irene cuts power as it churns northBy the CNN Wire StaffAugust 28, 2011 7:33 a.m. EDT
(CNN) -- Hurricane Irene knocked out power to more than 3 million customers as it made its way north along densely populated cities in the East Coast.

Utility companies and emergency agencies reported outages early Sunday, and warned that the numbers are expected to go up as the storm swirls north.

.

Delaware

42,759 residents did not have power, according to the state's Emergency Management Agency.

.

Maryland

About 600,000 customers have reported power outages due to storm conditions in Maryland, said Danielle Lueking, a spokeswoman for the state's Emergency Management Agency.

.

New York, New Jersey and Connecticut

Utility companies in the three states reported 865,385 customers had lost power.

.

North Carolina

454,370 customers did not have power in the state, said Mark Van Sciver of the North Carolina Joint Information Center.

.

Pennsylvania

About 382,200 people were without power early Sunday, said Ruth Miller, a spokeswoman for the state Emergency Management Agency.

Virginia

About 944,000 customers have reported power outages, said Elizabeth Singer, a spokeswoman for the state's emergency operations.

Washington, D.C.

27,701 customers have reported power outages due to storm conditions in the nation's capital, Pepco said on its website early Sunday."

Good luck all and be safe!!

wind is picking up

Glad to hear those of you reporting in made it safely through the night.

Wacky cake is wonderful, comfort food. A favorite way to eat it here is in a bowl with cold milk added. Of course, ice cream on top is grand too. Do you frost yours? We use a boiled chocolate frosting that is nummy.

Stay safe all... we are watching over you and praying.

No we never tried that, But it sure sounds good.

Counting my blessings!!!

Haven't lost power yet. We are on the backside now. Wind seems stronger. No rain now. Sump pump working well.

I like that wacky cake has no eggs and no use of the power mixer so its a good kid recipe. Shirley Corriher says stir it well to develop some gluten and that helps it hold the rise.

Anyhoo, our last rain measure said 4 1/2 around 11 pm last night. Today we have power and never lost it, a lot of leaves down, one branch for us. We've done much worse in previous storms- I'm recalling one from last year with more trees down nearby.
Utilities seem to have called so many crews in this time, I think the outages will be corrected quickly.

All good with us. 3 1/2inches of rain a lot of wind but no damage. Here they are opening the beaches at Ocean City. Really!!! Fema comes on and tells everyone to stay off the roads and then the Gov of Md. come on and tells everyone the Beach is Open. LOL
Ric can't wait to head out for our vacation in Duck, N.C.

Hope everyone north of us made it through OK! We are doing fine and glad it's over!

!! Kristi !! BIG hugs....how are you?!? Glad to see you poppin' in on the 'east side.' ^_^ LOL Was just thinkin' about you the other day looking at the crinum out front.

Hoping all you norther DGers are doing well - continued prayers. Our power remained on and the tall trees the sit up on the hill behind my house remained upright - thank you, Jesus!!

Never lost power here. Very thankful. Almost 7" of rain. The only branches down are the ones, Jeff cut down in preparation.

Those are the kind of reports I LIKE reading. ^_^

No damage no power loss, wind is really picking up now, though
Here's the town 3 up from us
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=voRPqBxE7Tk

Retention pond across the street at the retirement village

Why was she even out in this weather????
http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/story?section=news/local&id=8331638

Hubby yesterday when he realized he forgot to tie off the kids play set

Like your hubby pic Jen.
A darn shame that natural selection had to take that woman.
That retention pond is really retaining!!!!

No power out in our house but must be around here. The grocery store was on limited power, few shoppers but most buying ice and or water. Very gusty so we could still have more downed trees in the area, or dead limbs loosened. We read 7 inches in our yard.

When we went to OC couple weeks ago I noted that Hilton hotel was bult with parking garage underneath and the pools and lobby quite elevated. All they'll have to do is sweep sand out of the garage and small lower lobby. Have a good trip Holly and Ric!

just crazy when you hear about those things.. yeah why would you be out there

One death in PA a tree fell on them while they were camping!!!!!!!!!!!!!! IDIOTS!!!!!!!!!!

I did see a neighbor pull out of here with a kayak yesterday .. guess they are no smarter

I tried to post early this AM--maybe before 8AM--and let everyone know that I had power,
but still had a restless night wondering IF I had power....My fear was that the Sump Pump
would not pump.....with all this rain--it would have meant flooded basement...

I wrote YWO posts--and the power blinked off--and kicked my computer into "Restart".
Tried again--wrote a Post-and was ready to send it--and, again, the power "blinked" and POOF!
There it went again. So, I gave up--had to get ready for work!

I went to bed early--and got up at around 2:30AM and again around 4AM just to see if I had power.
All was OK. Walked the house, flicking switches on and off. All was well--Thank God!!!

Went to work at 9AM and was in my usual phone operator job.
NEVER have I had a more stressful day!!! Our phones were all down--NOT inside the building, but the
main trunk lines outside. Computers were down--could not sign on.
Must have had 200 or more calls today--all wanting to know the same thing.....
Do we have any Generators--or do we have any sump pumps....or--battery back-up pumps....
NO! NO! NO! NO! Non stop calls--BUT--They could not hear me--and I could not hear the caller...

All day long all i was saying is: "Hello?"---Hello??_---Can you hear me? I can hear you! How can I help you?
And--when we DID connect--these people were saying--"I cannot hear you! Are you there?
Something is wrong with your phones!!!!"...DAH!

All I ever heard was---"Hello? Do you have any sump pumps??? Do you have any Generators?
Do you know which stores may have any? Do you know when you will be getting any in???etc...etc...etc...
Exhausting!!!! Frustrating!!!!

This went on--non stop--for 8 hours. I am SOOO GLAD to be home!!!

Anyway! I am OK--Never lost power---have a lot of tree debris to clean up and all my stashed plants to bring back out.
Tomorrow--I will clean up the yard of fallen tree branches and rake up all the leaves and bring out the rest of all my stashed plants...
I want everything back to normal.

WHEW! What a night and day I have had....but I still think I was fortunate...Nothing serious happened to me.

Gita

ugh how frustrating that must have been- we are glad you are safe!

Oh man that would have drove me CRAZY

I feel your pain Gita. I also work in retail , so I got calls all day of," Are you open?". Well heck I answered the phone didn't I? ( after not much sleep Saturday night I was not in a good mood) What time are you closing? I wanted to say, Now if I had a choice....lol.
No real business as far a sales, I work for Mens WearHouse, so we had 1 person coming out in the morning to purchase, the rest was Tuxedo returns and phone calls. it was the same as Saturday. Both managers did not work either day, One went to PA on Thursday and did not return,the other claimed he had to take care of his house. That left me and a few sales people.

Gita, I never thought of my old work site, now you have made me wonder how the garden dept did at Lowes, Wonder what kind of mess they had to clean up and if they did anything with the plants before the storm.
We are still here and waiting to find out when we can head out to the beach. The website says the Town of Duck is open today for residents, owners and those assisting with clean up. Not sure as timeshare owners that includes us and we still haven't gotten in touch with anyone at Barrier Island so we will be calling and waiting.