Night before last we were under a Tornado watch. I woke up at 0300 and
the wind was fierce. Rain was falling in hard pelting sheets. I stayed up awhile.
Listening to the wind and rain. I'm not scared of storms. Not even a little.
I've been through a number of hurricanes--the worst was Fran, a Cat 4--and
she was wicked! On the way to work, we watched one of those green
interstate signs sail by as if gravity no longer existed. We were stocked on
ice and water. One cooler was full of the most pricy meats and cheeses.
The second cooler was full of sodas and beer. At noon we still had telephone,
no power. And the hurricane party began in earnest. Friends of my partner
dropped over. He was a contractor then and knew a lot of people. We
grilled steaks and had baked potatoes. We had a lovely meal while in the
eye. Meanwhile, the hospital wanted me there an hour ago. So after eating,
he drove me to work and he went back to his party. The next morning,
we nurses walked out into an unfamiliar world. There was literally no
evidence of the existence of all the side streets. Trees were down everywhere.
The damage was amazing. This was the second hurricane in 6 weeks.
Bertha was only a Cat 1, but she did damage--and all those trees with
loosened roots from Bertha, they came down plus others. And of course,
with the hurricane sitting on top of us for nearly 24 hours, we had major
flooding. There are pictures of people in the lower lying areas getting around
by boat. A co-worker went 3 months before her water and power was
restored. We went 3 weeks without power. Why so long? Fran, like
Bertha before her, removed the meter box from the house. And all
electrical contractors are busy after a hurricane, so we just got in line
with a lot of others. The beaches were closed for 30 days--the first day
they re-opened, I was there. What a sight it was! Someone had left
a really cool red sports car parked 1 block from the water. It was still
covered with sand. Huge houses were missing. A motel 2 streets over
from the beach was missing. There was these 3 really OLD small trailers
that had been there forever--I was rooting for them to be there. They were
ocean-front, so their odds of survival were slim. But they were still there!
Their owners were there scooping sand out of their abodes with
shovels. The beach was pristine, washed clean of all human contact.
Anyway, back to power outages--We we one of thousands who awoke
to no power. We puttered around for a while. I was worried about
the hummingbirds. I saw not one. We finally left and went to the library
where I returned some books and checked out some more--yeah,
more! I dearly love books. This time I got some books on plants and
houseplant, planning garden, and pruning. And quilting.
We returned 1 and half hours later--still, no pwer or no signs
of hummingbirds. We left and went into town for lunch. We ate
at the Dugout--I hesitantly ordered fries again--these were perfect!
I was glad I risked it. Mike's on Main--well, I'll never go there
again. After finishing our meal, we walked across the street and
Kilwin's fudge shop grabbed me--I love fudge and pralines--and
pralines were fresh made today. Did I mention I loved pralines?
Today they had pumpkin nut fudge! I love pumpkin anything!
So I bought fudge and one praline. Ok, I confess. I bought a
slice of plain chocolate fudge and one of pumpkin nut. I eat it
by the fourth of a slice over a period of time. If one could live
off of fudge and not gain weight, that would be ideal!
When we got home, the power was on, and the hummers were
back. Busy, busy, flying to and from feeders. I wonder where
the tiny birds rode out the storm. They're sure tough to be so
tiny.
All for today
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