The windstorm formerly known as Hurricane Ike paid us a visit yesterday. No rain, but vicious tropical storm force winds. We lost our power around 2 p.m. and as of 3 p.m. today it was still out. The governor of my state said that there are approximately two million homes and businesses without power in my state. The latest word is that it could be up to a week before everyone is in the light again.
I am writing this in a hotel room about twenty minutes from home. Luckily we have resources enough that we can stay for a night or two without much problem. We toughed it out at home last night, and let me tell you, the night is mighty long when you have no lights, no air conditioning, no Internet, no nothing. I spent a lot of time wondering if there was a patron saint of power outages. St Mary Illuminata, lead us out of the dark. Please turn on the lights. (I am a bad girl -- I expect St Mary to rap me on the head for being a smart ass.)
B and I had an interesting dinner last night. A tasteful assortment of grape tomatoes, cucumber slices, strawberries, peanut butter sandwiches and Pringles. We decided to keep the fridge closed to preserve the food as long as possible. Although, since it's been more than 24 hours, I'm pretty much resigned to a refrigerator full of spoiled food. Ten big plastic bags of cherries have defrosted, I'm sure, so I will be cooking enough cherry pie filling to feed the city.
Hmmm. Cherries. That leads me to my bad news. We lost our cherry tree in the big blow. It's laying on its side in our front yard, uprooted and sad. Yes, I have bitched more than once about that dang tree, but I was upset. I had a sentimental attachment to that little tree. It was given to us by a friend of mrMimi's and mine who passed away a few years ago. I don't know, maybe it can be saved. Some of the roots are still in the ground. I need to call an arborist to tell me what's what. I definitely want to save it if we can.
So we are at a hotel for the night. Last night, I sort of limped through without my breathing machine, but I don't want to take the chance that going without it for more than one night will land me in the hospital again. I would rather be at home.
Eilan? Zee? Satyr? You all okay?
