Conference turris::womannotes-v3

    
    
    ...not a whole lot where I live, 20 miles NNW of Providence.
    
    Buffalo blizzards are much worse.
    

    Lotta rain, lotta wind, our neighbor's tin shed blew over (what a
    noise!) and the big willow down the block lost a HUGE limb.  Our
    electricity flickered two or three times.  That's it.
    
    But at least it was more exciting than Gloria!
    
    D!

    
    My third floor apartment shook a bit, a couple of times, which got 
    me over the boundary from thrilled to anxious.  I'm glad the winds 
    weren't any stronger, I think the roof would've blown off!  All the
    branches that fell off the big tree in front missed my windows.
    
    I kept wondering if the powers that be who name the hurricanes are fans
    of The Bobs.  It is, after all, The Year of the Bob.
    
    CQ  

    I drove into work at the usual time and did work things.
    
    Then I called my parents, who live in Bristol, Rhode Island, in
    sight of Narragansett Bay -- but on a hill.  My mother was doing
    laundry, while there was still electricity, and my father was up
    at the store, battening things down with my brother.  They hadn't
    taped their windows, nor dragged their boat up the hill, but the
    boat was insured, and wasn't going to do anything except float in
    its meadow anyhow.
    
    The closing announcement came, I did what little work I could,
    grabbed some printout, and drove home, starting at 10:57.  I didn't
    have any problems, except that it was just like driving home after
    5:00; the traffic was heavy at all the same places.  Tim got home
    just after I did (11:45).  We gathered flashlights, candles and
    matches, and settled in to watch the storm on TV.  The cable went
    out around noon.  (This was not a surprise; it goes out in a heavy
    breeze.)  Tim got Channel 5 on the radio, as it was being simulcast
    on WBUR.  Then he went hunting for an antenna.  Eventually he found
    one, still attached to a (non-functioning) television, and soon we
    were watching broadcast channels on the big set again.
    
    We had the curtains open to watch as many trees lash around as
    possible, and Tim had the front door open.  Well, it wasn't cold,
    and the wind wasn't blowing from that direction.
    
    I called my parents again.  My father was home.  (When the store
    was in Providence, he had an unfortunate habit of staying there,
    and walking around downtown to watch the destruction.)  Their cable
    was out, and they had no antennae.  I assured them that they were
    smack in the middle of the hurricane.  Prior to my call, most of
    my mother's information had come from my Aunt Rhoda, who had seen
    the storm on CNN and had called to find out how her baby brother was
    doing.  This was pretty impressive, since Rhoda is the Baroness
    von Wolfe, and was calling from their chateau in Switzerland.
    
    Everything remained uneventful.  In the evening, we were invited
    to a hurricane party in Framingham, and drove past darkened stretches
    of road/homes with dim candleglows of light, downed branches and
    (two) uprooted trees to get there.  We drove back the same way, but
    found that the darkened stretches had changed: one that had been
    lit was now dark, and one that had been dark was now lit.
    
    						Ann B.
    

    Yesterday was my first day in a new job ... some first day.
    
    I left the Mill around 10.30a.  The drive home was horrendously slow
    and visibility in the driving rain got pretty awful at times.  I got
    home about 12.30p. [so it took me slightly longer than twice the
    normal time over that particular route]
    
    After a quick check of the food supply, I discovered that nothing
    except the ice cream [coffee Heath-bar crunch] and the various
    beverages were ready to eat as is.  I resisted the urged to panic and
    eat the ice cream and drink all the wine and juice; and cooked up a
    major batch of pasta primavera and tortellinis with pesto instead. I
    also made about a gallon of pico de gallo -- you can _never_ have too
    much pico de gallo -- and toasted up a bucket of tortilla chips. Then I
    settled down with my pineapple juice and a book with the Weather
    Channel and Channel 5 [WCVB] playing in the background.
    
    Rick blew in at about 1.30p with some fine cheeses, red & white grapes,
    and crackers.  Such a nice man.
    
    The power went out at about 4.30p [over a broad area] and was back in
    most of the area at about 5.30p.  However, our power was out for
    slightly over 9 hours as several trees had fouled powerlines in the
    neighborhood.  Our house sustained some minor water damage. The
    neighbors didn't fare as well -- several broken skylights, a few
    demolished sheds and broken fences. Also several uprooted trees.
    
    As night began to fall, I dug out my headlamp so that I could continue
    reading.  Went to bed about 10pm.
    
      Annie

    Did anybody else find the howling wind and driving rain soporific? I
    settled into my armchair in front of the big window, cup of tea on the
    table, book in hand and the local news on TV, but it felt so cozy
    there that I never did read the book - just kept dozing off. (Well,
    until the power went out, at which point I woke up. Must have been the
    sudden silence... Rather nice, actually, a house with no hum from the
    refrigerator, no sounds of water-heater kicking in, no LEDs glowing all
    over the place.)
    
    Then again, maybe what put me to sleep were the three expeditions I
    made outside to try and keep my garden from washing away. I dug
    emergency ditches and built little dams and generally played engineer,
    getting thoroughly soaked... Heck, no wonder I dozed off!
    
    Oh, and I got a mild scare, too. There's a tall, slender locust tree
    out back that's gotten completely enveloped by vines this year
    (bittersweet? something like that - the northern version of kudzu). The
    winds must have ripped loose the vines that were tying it to the nearby
    trees, but it didn't break; just drooped towards the ground, looking
    like a twenty-foot-long, 3-foot-wide sea monster, bobbing its head up
    and down.
    
    -b

        Our manager kicked us out slightly before the building officially
	closed.  I stopped at the vegetable stand on the way home and then
	went home and made my grocery list.  I had planned to go shopping
	yesterday evening but decided maybe I should do it now.  I got to
	the grocery store, got soaked, discovered I had forgotten my list,
	and ended up missing 3 items so now I have to go again tonight!

	My husband works for a public utility but they let him go home.
	He called just before he was to leave work and told me that he
	wanted to stay in RI, at work, and watch the hurricane from the
	window.  I told him he had better get his butt home!  His brother
	called and told me that Steve had wanted to go to New Bedford
	(home town) but his mother told him no, the bridge was closed.
	Steve drove me nuts most of the afternoon... I just wanted to 
	read and he had cabin fever something awful.  He went for two
	walks in the pouring rain, just to check things out.  Luckily
	I managed to talk him out of going for a drive until after the
	worst had passed.  He was like a child, he was so excited about
	this storm!

	We lost the power at 2:30 and by 7:00 we were hungry so we dug
	out the coleman stove and propane grill and made dinner on that.
	I expect that we were the only ones in the entire apartment
	complex who had a hot dinner last night!  There was a beautiful	
	rainbow (with a faint shadow of another rainbow right next to it).
	I took pictures... hope they come out!  Did anybody else see it?

	Karen

    
    Is anyone else still without power?  We haven't had it since
    3 PM yesterday and they say it'll be another couple of days
    before we get any.
    

    
    I still don't have power. 
    
    bonnie

Stayed in touch with Ma and the rest of the family (Dennisport) for
the better part of the day.  They lost power at 2:15 and it will take
a few days before everyone is restored.

<Rediculous aside> It's good that the Falmouth and Cape Cod Hospitals
were at the top of the list and have power back.  But the Cape Cod
Mall?????!!!!!!!??????  This after suspension of trivial programs like
Meals on Wheels because of no power <aside ended>

Anyway, when I tried to update last night, I got a recording saying,
"due to a hurricane in the area you are calling..." Mighty efficient
of Ma Bell, don't you think?  Finally, got back through to Ma this
A.M.

Sigh....one of my favorite things since I was but a girl took a beating -
the Bass River Wind Mill.  I do hope they fix it up.

The Cape is a mess...it will be some time before they are back to normal.

Barb

I heard the transformer across the street blow up when a tree fell
on a wire in the neighbor's yard.  No estimate for repairs.

-d

	I spoke to my Mom in South Yarmouth this morning.  They are without 
power.  They lost a couple of trees and two sections of fence.

	My power was out 4:30 - 9:45 yesterday except for a brief 45 second
burst at 6:30.

					--D

    I never made it in to work yesterday.  I started in, but hadn't heard a
    weather report until I was in my car.  Took less than a mile to decide
    that a one hour drive was a bad idea and I turned around and went back
    home.  Spent a while taping sliders and windows which face northeast,
    north and south.  My son got home from Sturbridge at about noon,
    complaining about his car driving poorly in the wet weather.
    
    We lost a small tree from a clump in the front yard.  The folks across
    the street lost a tree.  Good friends up the hill and over two streets
    had a good size oak fall between two houses.  None of us suffered any
    real property damage.  There's some water in the basement, where
    puddles deeper than the door sills developed -- but I get that in any
    hard rain :-( .  All in all, I got off remarkably lightly.  Never lost
    our power, although we did lose the cable for a little while.
    
    Alison

    We lost power. We always lose power. Even if there's no reason,
    there's somebody at Boston Edison who looks it up in a file, says
    "Beck's still got electricity? Throw that switch!"

    Thought we were going to break the curse this time. The peak of
    the storm came through around 4-5 and power stayed on (a flicker
    or two). Around 5:30, I went down the driveway, found a 35' pine
    tree (8-10" truck diameter) uprooted and leaning on our wires
    (power, cable, phone), and still we had power. I stared at the
    thing for a while, went back inside to let the wind subside some
    more, came back out around 6 and attached a rope as high up the
    tree as my stepladder allowed, and we tied that to another couple
    of trees (so the pine wouldn't tip into the wires any harder), and
    I then commenced cutting chunks off the bottom of the tree so it
    would gradually swing into an increasingly upright position
    (pivoting where it was in contact with the wires), until I could
    pull it back off the wires the direction it came. (Yes, there was
    still power, yes it was still raining, no, don't try this at home.
    The insulation was intact and the rope was fiberglass, so I wasn't
    *too* concerned. Annoyed, yes.) Finished all this around 7. Still
    had power. Showered, sat down to watch TV.

    Power went out at 7:30 on the whole street. No discernable reason.
    Grump. Still out.

    Some time ago we figured out what the DEC turkeys (I mean the
    frozen ones we get in December) are good for ... thermal mass in
    the freezer to keep the real frozen food from thawing...

 I came into work for 7:50 and did some notes and DECWrite stuff. They told us
to leave and shut off the machine arouns 10:30. Talked to my dad and found out
my mom was still in Seabrook, stranded with no car, so I told him I'd retrieve
her. Also found out my grandmother was in the hospital.

 Being on empty, I decided to fill up before heading to the beach. Traffic was
backed up beyond the entrance at LKG; it took almost 10 minutes to travel the
150 or so yards to get to the gas station. The place was loaded. I pulled up 
to the pump (finally) and gave the cashier $15. Tried to put the nozzle in
the receptacle, and found that it wouldn't reach. %^$&* Turned the car around,
the fiddled with the nozzle trying to get it to work with the vapor recovery
nonsense. No dice. Went back inside, the cashier said she had reset the pump
and to try it again. I was getting increasingly wet and talking to myself alot.
It worked this time, but with all the people pumping at the same time the gas
was coming out very slowly, and I was right at the very edge of the canopy,
getting extra large droplets down my back. Welcome to monday.

 Finally I was on the road and headed to the beach. With my practically bald
front tires, I was taking it relatively easy (though there wasn't much I 
could do about it.) Got up there in modest time, and mom took me out to lunch.
Weather was moderately crappy. Took mom home, and found out my brother
got arrested last week when he went through a stop light and got caught 
transporting a six pack (he's only 20).

 Went home and played spades with eldest daughter and her boyfriend (and 
Betsy). Noticed that the mourning dove that has taken up residence in the
birch tree was sitting on her nest throughout the storm. I rooted for her. :-)

 Noticed water in the basement. Cleaned it up.

 Parents came over last night. 

    Luckily, Gloria took out all the weak trees five years ago...so we just
    got a lot of downed branches but no actual treefalls.
    
    All in all, I count our town as lucky...a small shift of about ten
    miles on the storm track and we would have been *clobbered*
    
    Near misses are such fun!
    
    Daniel

    Left MR1 about 10:30...all I needed was a rumor that we were about
    to close...have a healthy respect for the sea and the weather.  Over
    all I think we got off lucky...could have been worse.  In Stow I saw
    no major damage except to the orchard crops probably 1/2 gone.....lotsa
    cider this fall.  My pioneer spirit was aroused enough to try to plan
    a hot dinner if possible...nuked a pot roast,pressure cooked it and
    put it in the crock pot to await the eventual power shutdown which
    came at 4 pm and came back on at midnight.  Got out the ole campstove,
    checked for alcohol and settled in to watch the reports on TV this 
    lasted until 4 and then I got sleepy like the rest of the family...
    could this be the change in pressure.  Someone else mentioned napping
    through the worst of it and several people I talked to today had the
    same reaction.  I did the same thing during Gloria.  My worst problem
    was trying to keep my husband from playing Coast Guard.  He was ready
    to head for the Cape for 911 duties in his Whaler.  Thank goodness
    they closed the bridges.  Major damage done to the house was his
    overzealous effort to make sure we had water to flush the facilities
    and let one of the tubs run over.....now I know why wet dry vacs were
    invented...we got that mess cleaned up before the power went off.
    
    We took off for the North Shore about 8pm to acess the damage up there.
    (checked in on our "out of the water this season sailboat" in Newberry
    and stopped by the Ipswich Bay Yacht Club to see how many boats were
    left in the Parker River.  At 9pm it was still breezin up there but
    fortunately the wind was pushing the water away from the shore and
    the highest tide had passed or there would have been more damage.
    
    Fell asleep on the way home and crawled into bed about 11 thinking
    ......why do I dream about waterfront property?
    
    Aug. 19th is early for a hurricane....we could have more before the
    season is over......maybe we need to know that we can survive without
    the light switch.....it was kinda fun but I wouldn't want it to last
    for weeks.

    My mother is in Eastham on the Cape. This was no small storm
    down there. Many many roads closed due to downed trees. Not
    too many locusts trees left, most pines have lost the tops
    if not the whole tree. Power will probably be out for most of 
    the week. Boats destroyed or washed up everywhere, a couple
    of houses with their roofs ripped off. No water as most if not
    all houses use pumps. Trees on many many houses, cars. Basically
    it is a mess. We may have lucked out in the Greater Boston area
    but this was no joke down the Cape. The pictures from Buzzards
    Bay, Falmouth, Chatham, etc.. attest to the severity of the storm.
    
    Jim C.
    

    Well, having worked in facilities for a number of years, after
    listening to the weather report in the morning, I knew they would
    close the buildings and send us home before noon, and I was right.
    So, I stayed home and did the standard stuff instead....Made sure we
    had candles, matches, flashlights, water in containers, refrig turned
    up, etc.  Then sat and watched the weather for a while - Brian got
    sent home at 10:30, so when he got there, we closed up the house and
    went up to our lakehouse in Hillsborough NH to make sure the boats
    were staying put and the canoe wasn't in the trees!  We tied everything
    down and just waited it out - Wasn't very bad at all up there, it was
    a bit worse at our house, nothing major, but we lost power for 10
    hours.  Cable is still out - Oh well, there's reading I need to catch
    up on anyway!
    
    The funniest thing though was an announcement on the radio of
    cancellations:  "The Optimist Club is cancelled until Wednesday"!
    I've never laughed harder in my life!
    
    All in all, not bad from where I sat, lots of rain and water where
    there never was before, but no damage to the house or toys, so I can't
    complain!
    
    bright blessings,
    -HA

    I heard about news of the approaching hurricane at 0730 as the
    clock radio woke me up.  We both decided not to go into work,
    as we live just far enough away from our jobs that it would be
    a major pain just to be told to turn around and go home...
    
    We had some things around the yard that we had to put away (ladders
    leaning against the house, bits of lumber, fence sections, other
    building materials from our perpetual renovations...).  After that,
    we had to make a quick supermarket run because we were out of cat
    food (the people-food supply in the house was adequate, tho).
    
    The supermarket was busy, but it wasn't the absolute madhouse I
    expected it to be...
    
    Got home around 10:00, decided to log into DEC so I could give
    my workstation a clean shutdown.  Logged in, and as I was reading
    my mail everything froze up... tried to dial in again, and the
    modem answered but I got no password prompt from the LAT.  In other
    words, the LTN folks shut down the LAT a little early 8-(
    
    Things weren't TOO bad where we were (Worcester).  Blew all the
    apples off of our trees, and blew down one of the porch columns
    (it was loose and we were going to replace it anyway 8-) ).  Lost
    cable TV, but didn't lose electricity.
    
    Funny thing was, around 2100 or so after all the wind and rain had
    been gone for a few hours, I heard a huge BANG! from somewhere in
    the street.  Looked outside and half the street was suddenly
    dark (not our half, luckily).  I guess some water worked its way
    into a transformer, which eventually blew...
    
    Indeed, the biggest bit of hurricane damage I've had to clean up
    so far has been my workstation.  The guys in my group were "thoughtful"
    enough to turn it off for me, but they didn't do a full shutdown.  When
    I brought it back up, fsck did a number on my disk; my /usr/lib
    directory was turned into a bunch of anonymous entries in
    /usr/lost+found.  Took me all morning to put it back in order again.
    (While it's true that I'm a UNIX bigot and not a VMS type, there IS
    something to be said for a robust filesystem...)
    
    --jim
    

    On the way home, I stopped by Blockbuster Video, thinking to get some
    movies to fill the afternoon, until the power went out (which it never
    did do.)
    
    Apparantly, half of Lowell had the same thought, because the lines were
    out the door.
    
    I decided that a book was much more appealing than a movie, anyway.
    
    D!

    Actually, when we made our supermarket run Monday morning, we
    noticed that the only business open in the neighborhood was
    the video store...
    
    --jim
    

    Power came back this morning (Wed) at 0700.  The PSNH workers showed up
    at 0200, making enough noise and flashing enough lights to wake the
    dead.  I went out and removed my two sawhorses that were warning
    drivers off the downed wire in the road, and I actually managed to fall
    asleep agian.
    
    The neighbor whose tree had taken the line down at 1700 Monday has an
    outdoor burglar alarm.  Gues what woke us up at 0700...
    
    We were rather fortunate, all things considered.  No electricity, but
    we have a gas stove and gas water heaters, so we could cook and bathe. 
    We also have candles, a kerosene lamp, and a Coleman gas-mantle camping
    lantern, so we could read and be mostly civilized.  Both Monday and
    Tuesday evenings we read until we fell asleep, then we doused the
    lights and went to bed.
    
    -d

    8/19-All was secured at my place by 10:00 am....power went out
    at 2:30pm, as we watched the hurricane from the house.
    Every "crack" heard meant a search to see what the tree hit...
    The barn, pool and house made it thru fine, the corral fence
    took the three trees that snapped in half, and the yard, corral
    and pool are littered with tree debris.  We had flashlights,
    and the TV that runs on a battery pack, and even had a little
    get together with the neighbors by flashlight for dinner.
    8/20-No power, which means no water for the horses and such...
    Off to fill every container we could get downtown at the local
    gas station.  Horses need a lot of water.....had to do it again
    that night.  Dinner was sub sandwiches from the local (they had power)
    market.  No power until 10:00 pm.
    
    8/21 - First shower in two days!!!! (-;  Felt great!
    
    We discussed how they lived like that in the "olden days"....
    After only two days, we were going crazy! (-;
    
    HRH  

What a few days I had with Bob!  8) My dad was scheduled for
eye surgery in Boston at 9:00 am Monday.  Mom and Dad live in
Harwich, on the Cape.  So, at 6:30 am, we all got in the car
and headed toward Boston, knowing full well that Bob was on
his way. I got into Boston, with tons of vehicles and rain.  

The operation was a success and I got to watch the surgery
on tv in the lobby.  The doctors hurried Dad out, because
all of Boston was closing down.  We all got in the car and
started back to the Cape, to find that 93 was a Parking Lot.
This was about 11:30 am, and the radio predicted that Bob
was to hit  about 1:00 - 4:00 pm. I expected to get home
about the same time as Bob.

After I crawled through Boston, I got to Plymouth and felt a
little better. The winds picked up and the traffic thinned
(who else was heading to the  Cape during a hurricane?)  I
crossed the Sagamore Bridge a half hour before they closed
it.  Branches littered Route 6 and I slowed down a bit, but
knew that Bob was arriving in a little while.  

I got everyone home and not a moment too soon. The lights
went out 20 minutes later.  I got the plants in, put the
patio stuff down, and waited for the big winds. We  got
them. The ocean mist covered our windows so we could not see
outside. We didn't get any rain, just a lot of wind.  It
took down alot of trees on our street and two willows in our
yard.  

By 5:00 things settled down. The winds were only gale force,
so I went for a walk to see the damage.  The Wychmere harbor
was pretty bad, alot of boats had come ashore and were piled
next to each other.  The oldest trees fell in yards, across
lines, on garages.  Wires littered the streets.  

The next day, cleanup began. I needed gas to get home, but
without electricity, none of the stations could pump gas.
I found one station open, pumping gas one car at a time,
with a generator.  I waited an hour for gas. I looked
without success for ice to prevent the food in the fridge 
from spoiling.  Traffic was slow because of the debris in 
the road, the lack of traffic lights, and the sightseers.  

The electric company thinks that Harwich might get power
back by Friday.  Until then, my parents are cooking on
the grill, taking cold showers, and going to bed when it
gets dark.  

    Still no power in Eastford, CT.  For dinner tonight, will eat the last of 
    the cheese etc. I bought on the way home Mon.  Praying for more rain
    today to replenish the toilet flushing reserves--have well water, so no
    electric=no water.  Got to wash my hair in rainwater this morning and
    it's sooooo soft!  The baby (7 mos.) is a little freaked out.  He doesn't
    understand why we sit around in the near-dark all night.  Bought him a
    baby-doll last night to keep him company.
    
    Northeast Util says we'll have power by Thurs night but I won't hold my
    breath.  On the way home last night I drove under a pole that was
    suspended over the road, held up by just the wires.  Yikes!  Had to
    make several detours yesterday morn. around downed trees and lines.
    
    First hurricane in a new house.  Found one *&%$$* mystery leak which th
    ebuilder will hear about as soon as we all get power.  No major trees
    lost that I can see, but won't be able to walk the property (13 ac)
    until after tick season.  Have a brook but it's too far away to be a
    good source of water.  Will have to clear a path to it this fall so we
    can use it in the next emergency.

    I was too worried about my daughter's "hurricane Bob" who seems
    to have moved in with us.  Spent the day on the couch while
    I fumed.
    
    Maia
    

    re: .27
    
    
    ughers.  put a broom in his hands and tell him to earn the air space
    he's taking up...

    
    Well, armed only with my clothing, tapes, cassette player, coloring
    books, and brightly colored sleeping bag I set off for Maine on the
    16th.  With my intrepid stuffed rabbit Whiskers riding shotgun, we made
    the trip in record time (we drove at night, to avoid traffic).  All is
    well and I am beginning to spin down until my mother calls on Monday
    morning.
    
    "Hi, Jo, there's Food in the kitchen and you can help yourself...and
    there's a newspaper so you can see what's going on - we left it for
    you.  And there's going to be a hurricane and the Soviet Union suffered
    a coup last night."
    
    OH, REALLY, MOM?  ....
    
    So I battened down the hatches - we'd already had a thunderstorm Sunday
    night so it was WET, but I'd never been through a real hurricane!
    
    The rain was being driven nearly horizontally off the roof, I'd guess
    the wind was 70-80 miles an hour!  And by the time i heard I should
    evacuate the coast, I felt it was safer to stay than drive at that
    point (the cottage was on a bluff, rather than at water level, so there
    was not much danger from the ocean, only the rain and wind).  At high
    tide that evening the tide had surged to fill the cove (I'd never seen
    it do that before) and was washing over an outcropping of stone that
    was 30' high and 100 feet long!
    
    The next day I found a tree across the driveway, but woodswoman that I was
    I sawed it up and dragged it off in 3 pieces after removing the
    branches.  Took about an hour, but it felt great!  (insert tarzan yell
    here).
    
    Many trees were down, in fact I heard the police were insisting people
    leave their homes and go inland to shelter that evening, but the trees
    were down across some roads so they couldn't get to us.
    
    I lost power for about 8 hours, but always had the phone (very staticky
    at times, but a phone was comforting).  
    
    I wandered around and watched (kneeling on the side porch and holding
    on to the railing) for a bit at the peak of the storm, it was scary and
    exhilarating!
    
    The roof beams creaked with the pressure of the wind once or twice but
    the cottage held up wonderfully!
    
    -Jody
    
    

    "Auntie" had company.  My brother and his family were here from Atlanta
    visiting, which was nice... but do you have any idea how "itchy" two
    young boys get when they have to spend the whole day in the house???
    Not to mention how "itchy" auntie and uncle get!
    
    Fortunately, we didn't suffer much from the storm other than having to
    try to stay ahead of the rains as they poured in through the bulkhead
    to my cellar.  Now that was alot of fun!  
    
    We didn't lose electricity, though.  I cooked (lobster) and we baked
    fresh blueberry cake, and watched the news all day on the portable B&W
    t.v. (cable out).  
    
    I noticed yesterday that a neighbor's huge pine tree is now hanging
    precariously over the fence to my yard.  It will not hold up for long
    and when it comes down-- it'll take my stockade fence with it.  I think
    I shall go introduce myself to those folks to explain the situation.
    
    marcia

    Not to mention how "itchy" a 31 year old man can get!
    
    E Grace

    I slept through Bob. Went to bed a little after 8:00 in the ayem.
    Woke up once in a while to notice pouring rain and a fierce wind,
    but didn't pay it no nevermind. It was after having woken up and
    noticing for the third time that it was 10 minutes to 3:00 that I
    realized that there was no power (it was actually about 5 at that
    point). Found it all mildly curious, but still didn't think anything
    of it.
    
    Then I got dressed, fed the cat, and got in the car to drop in at
    home (I was cat-sitting for my mother). 5:15. Rush Hour. Not one single
    car on the road. The theme music for THE TWILIGHT ZONE plays through
    my head. "Hell, I guess it must've been a hurricane."
    
    Oh, yeah. I said I was cat-sitting for my mother. She was on a
    week's vacation with a friend of hers. Three guesses where. Martha's
    Vineyard. :-)  She got home the next Saturday as planned. Damage
    down there was extensive, and they still hadn't any power by the
    time she left there, but she made it through no problem.
    
    --- jerry