Safe and Sound

Well, Sandy has pretty much moved on for us and surprisingly she didn't leave much of a calling card in our yard at least...something we are very grateful for.  We had a few tree branches come down, which Mr. Tide made short order of this afternoon, and we've had some flooding which damaged our dock, but other than that we are good to go.


 

If we are experiencing this sort of flooding, then I know that other more low lying parts of our county are in dire straits.  Some parts down river from us are barely above water when the weather is calm and the tides are low.

We never even lost power, though the lights did flicker from time to time during the most ferocious of the wind gusts.  From what we've heard, the highest wind gusts got to 74 mph in our area, and we thank our lucky stars that our contractor installed our windows so well.  Having lots of windows is great for views, but when a hurricane, nor'easter, or tropical storm hits (in this case a combo of those 3), they can really be put to the test, and ours have passed with flying colors each time we've had a major storm...knock wood!

The winds were at their worst after dark, and that is always a bit unnerving to hear it howl and wonder what sort of destruction it's doing outside.  Our dock suffered a bit of damage from the winds and rising waters and some of the boards were ripped off, but we'll take that compared to what others are now facing!

This morning we ventured out early to check on the farm property and it was like a ghost town.  There were very few vehicles on the road, and most of those were power company trucks.  The farm did fine too, only a few large branches down but nothing major.

All in all, this storm was much kinder to our part of Maryland than Irene was.  We had some trees come down into the creek and one fell this afternoon on the river side, but as we drove around this morning it didn't look like a war zone as it had after Irene.

We have theorized that because Irene had so much more convective energy she likely spawned micro bursts and mini tornadoes which caused the utter devastation she left in her path last year.  And because we had drought conditions this past summer, I think a lot of the copious amounts of rain made their way into the parched soil with Sandy...all good news for us.

The coastline of Maryland didn't fare quite so well I'm afraid, and like NY, NJ, CT, MA and so many other parts of the eastern seaboard, it will take a very long time for life to return to normal for them.  My heart breaks when I see the amount of destruction they have experienced, and as a hurricane prone area, we can certainly relate to their plight.

Today has been a quiet day here, one where I even took a nap.  I think that after all of the stress of preparing, and then riding out the storm, my body just needed to re-set itself.  

We feel so very fortunate to have made it through the storm with almost no damage, and we truly appreciate the outpouring of support you gave us during the storm.  I received so many wonderful emails asking if we were ok...thank you so much!

While we wait for the waters to recede and for life to get back to normal, which it nearly is, we will think of all those facing massive clean ups and trying to contact loved ones.  I hope that sometime soon they will all be safe and sound as well!

Hunkered Down

We are hunkered down here, and waiting for the worst of the storm to arrive.  The latest predictions show the hurricane force winds arriving sometime around 6 pm tonight and lasting until the early morning hours before daybreak tomorrow.

We are as prepared as we can be, save building a bomb shelter, so now we just have to ride things out.  The winds have picked up significantly in the last half hour or so.   Early this morning we had already gotten over 3 inches of rain, and it has only continued to fall since then so I'm betting some of the lower lying areas around us are already experiencing flooding.  And we haven't seen a high tide yet this afternoon but our pier has water licking the bottom of it already.

I had hoped to show you images of the waves on the river, but that won't be happening, the tropical storm force winds and sideways rain are a bit too ferocious for my camera I'm afraid.  So instead I'll just show you our 4 kayaks which are nestled up by the house, just outside our master bedroom.  They are lashed together and turned upright to collect the rainwater so that they will be too heavy to fly away...at least that's the theory!

They say that necessity is the mother of invention, and since we don't have a proper umbrella stand (note to self to get one) an old zinc watering can tucked into the garage during our storm preparations will have to do.  As will scatter rugs strategically placed everywhere to try and catch as much water as possible when we bring the dogs in and out.

As the storm progresses, we will need to take them out the front door where we will be slightly more sheltered from the wind and driving rain.  And there is a porch where we can towel them off under cover before coming back inside.

The pups are real troopers though and will come in and let me towel them completely off before giving us a good shake.  Just a little bit ago when Quinn came inside after a potty run my daughter commented that he looked like a boxer getting ready for a prize fight with the beach towel draped all around him.

As much as I dread the next 24 to 36 hours, I have to feel pretty lucky.  Lucky that Mr. Tide and the folks at the company he was visiting worked like dogs while on travel so that he could catch a flight in last night....such a wonderful feeling to have him home when we weren't expecting it!  And our daughter will be staying with us as the rental property she shares with her brother has many more trees surrounding it than our house.  Super saturated ground with high winds = downed trees!  

Our son Bugs is riding out the storm at the local firehouse.  Not what a mother really hopes for during a major storm, but it's what he loves, and I know there will be people who will need his help.  I just hope they don't keep the first responders on the roads until the 11th hour like they did during Irene.  Once it becomes unsafe, no one should be on the roads or be expected to go out during the height of the storm.  He sends me texts every now and again to ease my worries and to let me know how things are going up his way.

And you can't help but feel lucky when you compare yourself to the families who are experiencing loses from Sandy's earlier landfalls, or the pure agony of waiting to see if their loved ones will be rescued after the tragic tall ship accident off the coast of North Carolina today!  I hope the 2 missing crew are found safe and sound.  Or the folks living in high rise buildings in NYC who don't know what to expect.  One of our friends is a New York City firefighter, and my heart goes out to the first responders of the major metro areas up and down the coast.

I went outside yesterday and snipped a few roses knowing that any remaining blossoms will be gone with the wind by this time on Wednesday.  For now, I will enjoy them and maybe even channel a little Scarlett O'Hara myself...

"Oh, I can't think about this now! I'll go crazy if I do! I'll think about it tomorrow. But I must think about it. I must think about it. What is there to do? What is there that matters? Tara! Home. I'll go home. And I'll think of some way to get him back. After all... tomorrow is another day!

Thanks so much for your comments and emails wishing us well during the storm, they are much appreciated!  And to our wonderful first responders, stay safe, and thank you for all that you do!