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We made it! Yay! The last half of the hurricane was worse than the first, which surprised me. The wind would back off for a while, crouching like a cat shuffling its back paws into a better position...shuffle again...once more for perfection and... POUNCE! The back off and repeat. This went on for a good five hours.
Fortunately, Irene was definitely losing steam by the time she got here. We had to eat by candle/flashlight, but the power came back on well before we had to worry about spoiled food. Nor did we need our bathtub full of water.
In the end, the wind did a one-eighty once we were on the backside of the whirlwind. That was hard on the trees. One TV announcer likened it to wiggling a tooth back and forth until it comes out. First the wind pushed one way, then another, and the loosened trees give way.
I really have to hand it to the emergency workers here; they were on the ball. Around here, that includes electricians, town maintenance workers, tree specialist companies, and people manning the shelters, and all sorts of other people I hadn't thought of before. Today, when I drove down to the plein aire group's meeting place, the main blockages had already been cleared or at least opened up.
Before the storm, the birds went silent. Interestingly enough, they were the ones who gave the "all clear." They started singing again while the wind was still doing about 20 mph with gusts around 40. Pretty smart for being "bird-brains," huh?
Tattered leaves lay like spent confetti in the woods and along road edges. Many of the trees have gone brown or bruised looking. A few were stripped.
Even so, with the sun slanting through a thinner canopy, it felt like a brand new day all day.
Kate
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Mother Nature doesn't sleep. I woke up at 3:00 a.m. Still no wind, but when I parted the blinds, those tattered-soft San Francisco clouds were racing across the sky.
OK. Time to crack a window open on the house's lee side. That's to equalize pressure inside the house with the rapidly falling pressure on the outside of the house. I didn't know that until the day before yesterday. Deed done. Fell into bed and slept.
Seven a.m. saw us both awake. The clouds were still high and rain-free on this side of the storm, still racing madly, but in a different direction. Because the storn is circular counterclockwise, the farther north it moves, the more the wind angle changes. Last night it was from the east southeast. At seven, it was from the southeast with steady but unimpressive winds down here with occasional gusts to maybe 30 mph and cooler. We stood out on the porch and watched for a couple of minutes, and it felt good.
Now, at 10:00, we are up to a steady 25 or 30 mph with gusts to 45, and the wind has shifted so it's coming from the south southeast. The town of Mashpee (Native American name, maybe?) just to the north of us has reported power outages, and our lights have flickered more than once.
Our house has started talking back to the storm. Creaks and short, stubborn groans, quick little pops around the windows when a strong gust hits. The sounds are more abrupt and less constant than our hosues in Reno were, probably because the construction is so much more solid. Floors squeak? Heavens no. That would be shoddy workmanship out here where the nor'easters blow twice as hard as we've seen so far. Add the threat of the occasional hurricane to it, and you have enough to keep the builders honest. How refreshing. :) I'll let you know if we see any flying fences
So we're cuddled into our favorite reading chairs with Zach the very big poodle snoozing in his bed near my feet. Suzie the cat is curled up in his other bed.
And oops, there goes the power. It's Sunday at 10:12 a.m., and I didn't quite get this out. We'll see how long it is before it comes back on.
Signing off to save computer power.
OK, 11:23. Power's back on again, yay, but we don't know for how long. Getting some sideways rain now, and happier with the power on.
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Enough bragging. Life is full of other interesting stuff, too.
Like Irene. That's Hurricane Irene to those of you who are just now hearing about the mandatory evacuation of New York City. Since this is our first hurricane/tropical storm, I thought I would post what it's like here on the blog.
Today, we've just finally figured out that the best thing to do is stay on-Cape. Between media overhype to increase ratings and politicians making sure their heinies are well-covered, it wasn't an easy decision. Your first clue, it turns out, is when the announcers on a certain weather specialty channel start sounding disappointed that Irene probably isn't going to make Category 4 before howling across North Carolina. By then, of course, it's too late to miss the evacuee-choked roads if you do decide to leave.
Fortunately, I didn't wait on the TV announcers. After questioning various long-time residents and a local fireman, we are satisfied that the storm surge and wind damage aren't big problems where our house is located. Also, David's fellow workers at NOAA have a lot more information on Irene than most people and no reason to skew it.
The Woods Hole facility's computers are being backed up in another location, but the facility is not being shut down. They say it will be somewhat worse than usual, but not up to Hurricane Bob standards, so we have decided to stay on-Cape whie she blows through.
We now have radios and the batteries to run them (hard to find as early as day before yesterday, but I found 'em), 10 days' worth of water and non-perishable food, tarps and duct tape, and the host of supplies we're told we should have in our emergency kit. Lawn furniture and my potted herbs and flowers will come indoors tomorrow.
The power will likely be out for a while, and our cell phons probably won't work for that same "a while," but we're ready. In the meantime, I plan on reading, writing, and painting while we wait her out.
It's Friday evening, the sun is shining, the sky is blue, it's very humid, and there's not a breath of wind.
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Waiting for a hurricane is an odd pastime. For us, it's been one-third final errands (topping off the gas tank, searching for one more flashlight in shopped-out stores, getting a few more groceries), one-third prep (I just finished filling the bathtub with water so toilets can be flushed), and one-third watching the storm's progress in the skies and on TV.
Our neighbors two doors down, on the other hand, are having a hurricane party. This aparently involves watching movies and eating popcorn until the power goes out. Which it will. Trees + power lines + prolonged high winds = power outages, and there are one heck of a lot of trees around here.
The good news is that Irene has quieted down to a category one. The bad news is that we're on the heavy wind side of her and she is huge -- about 500 miles across and still spreading. Therefore, we are expecting blocked roads and an opportunity to try out that new flashlight.
This morning, we woke up to soft, overcast skies without a breath of wind. It was so quiet it gave us the feeling we should be looking over our shoulders to see what was sneaking up on us. When we did, it misted on us. (As opposed to raining on us.)
The rain, when it came around lunchtime, was very calm. Almost matter-of-fact. Someone upstairs turned on a faucet for about an hour, soaked things toroughly, then turned it off. No wind, no cold. Since then, we've had some cooling, a couple of showers, and lots of clouds.
Inside, we now have enough flashlights, canned food and water for 4 (the dog and the cat need such things, too) for 10 days, an official emergency "kit," clean laundry, a nervous poodle (he knows something's up and can't figure out what), and one tired Kate.
We're ready, though. It's a good thing, too. The wind has finally picked up outside a little.
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You’ve all heard of the Big Fish Little Pond Scenario, haven’t you? Well, so had I, and believe me, there are so many highly accomplished artists out here “on-Cape” that I was feeling a bit intimidated.
The best cure for that, of course, is to take a deep breath and plunge in, so that’s what I did. Paintings were finished and framed. Shows were located and entered, paintings were delivered, and breath was held.
The outcome? Three sales (at more than twice the regular price in Reno...wow) and a first place in watermedia in the Falmouth Artists Guild’s Summer Juried Show for “Summer Bright”! I’ve included photo below. Out of 248 pieces entered, only about 60 were accepted, so it was very exciting.
So thank you all for your encouragement. It would have been hard to work up the nerve without it.
