Thank you all so much for the hurricane updates. All is well here. We had almost no wind but just buckets of rain. The flooding was severe enough to cause some evacuations but we are high enough to avoid that. We did lose the lower gardens I think. The corn and the squash may not be complete losses but they spent some time under water and we won’t know until later today just what we can salvage.
My daughter is leaving to return home today so this will be a short post. I do want to mention something. I am hearing a fair bit of criticism about the storms being less intense than forecast. Weather is not an exact science and I don’t believe this is some conspiracy to make us all crazy. As I put away all of the stuff I had carefully stored out of the path of wind that never arrived I will do so with a grateful heart. It is better to over-prepare for an event that doesn’t happen than to under-prepare and face the consequences.
One final note. I got a first place ribbon at the fair for my jelly and a third for my bread. The bread is actually a bigger deal as the competition is stiff. Karen got a first place for candy, Bruce a second for honey and Maggie got a third for her photograph. Again, the photo competition is stiff so this is quite an accomplishment.
Please send us any hurricane updates. We all want to know how our little cyber community fared.
Best,
Kathy
August 29, 2011 at 7:55 am
So glad to hear all is well with you. I agree–it’s better to be over-prepared than the opposite.
August 29, 2011 at 8:16 am
Not even one drop of rain in Piedmont NC. Last week I emailed all my neighbors with emergency preparedness links. They were more receptive to planning for the unknown, having just been shaken by an earthquake the day before. Best wishes!
August 29, 2011 at 8:36 am
Being up in central Ontario, we only go the edge of your storm – cool and overcast with heavy wind gusts. So glad to hear that your damage has been minimal as the pictures we are getting from the US show that it has been pretty horrific for some.
Congrats on your family’s accomplishments and winnings at the Fair!
August 29, 2011 at 9:34 am
Irene bypassed Florida – yea for us. However our kids in CT didn’t fare as well. One is without electric and will be for a couple of days. The other really lucked out – still has electric and the 80 ft tree in front of their house is intact but the 50 foot tree that is about 100 feet down the street fell over blocking the street. Clean-up will take several days. The grandkids are not happy that the new school year is being delayed by several days.
Hope everyone is doing OK and believe me, being over-prepared is a whole lot better than under-prepared. Just ask anyone who’s been thru a bad hurricane season like 2007 or 2008.
August 29, 2011 at 9:41 am
Glad to read you “fared” well in both situations:) Would you mind sharing the recipes? Unless, you prefer they remain secret:)
August 29, 2011 at 9:43 am
Just rain in Boston — and my tomatoes and peppers survived as well!
Congrats on the wins in your house, you guys must have worked hard. Can we hear your now-famous recipes? (*nudge nudge wink)
August 29, 2011 at 9:54 am
We measured exactly 10″ of rain on our rain guage. The winds came after the bulk of the rain and we didn’t loose power until last night. Of course, it will probably be a few days before we get it back! The road in was washed out in several places, with one a real deep crevasse type of thing, so we won’t get out until it’s been fixed.
Not too terrible, but I sure am glad we followed the preparedness plan! I think coverage before the storm was over hyped, but the warnings were not…I hope they eep letting folks know that people are still having issues with it in the after math.
August 29, 2011 at 10:04 am
I ithink it is fair to say that storms do unpredictable things – no one seemed to seriously think Vermont would be a major disaster area but listening to public radio this morning it sounded as if they are experiencing major flooding due to Irene. Other locations such as NYC was not as badly hit as some thought would happen. In Minnesota, weather continues to be absolutely beautiful with warm days and cool evenings. We had a horrific tornado hit Minneapolis a couple of months ago so everyone needs to be prepared for the unexpected.
August 29, 2011 at 10:49 am
We’re far enough west in NYS that all we got was a bit of overcast and wind, followed by those scrubbed clean skies. Glad to hear off those who made it through ok, and Kathy, congratulations on your family’s accomplishments!
August 29, 2011 at 11:48 am
The hospital delayed my brother’s discharge until this morning. The neighbors reported downed trees in the area, but they never lost power. The house is fine. He did call me from his hospital bed Saturday night – to say the local news was reporting a strip of bars on the Annopolis side of the shore were packed with hurricane partiers (can anyone say Camille?).
He did change my listing in his phone. I’m now “…emergency contact” , the dots insure I’m #1 in the listing when you open it. Otherwise who would the hospital know who to call? Following suit, I changed my husband’s listing from first name only to “….my husband”. Hope there is never any reason that’s helpful.
Hope everyone dries out soon.
August 29, 2011 at 11:58 am
Glad to hear you’re OK! I also agree with you about the criticism. It wasn’t as strong as predicted… this time. But it might go the other way and be worse the next time! Consider this a good fire drill, which we all need from time to time. I wish the news media would report it that way instead of all the second guessing, when they were the ones whipping up the frenzy to begin with. Sheese.
August 29, 2011 at 12:18 pm
Hi kthy – I’ve been lurking for a while, but i had to comment on your post today. I too have heard the wits and pundits make comments about the over-hype, and while I can agree that at times it seemed a little silly to me, I am so incredibly grateful that the storm went out to sea. We are in Norfolk Virginia and when Isabel hit us it was not so good. We have spent the last couple of days doing clean up, and are happy as can be that it is only clean up and not repair. Have a wonderful week!
August 29, 2011 at 1:50 pm
So glad you are safe! As you shared clean up will keep you busy. I lived in Florida and Mass in the 1980s. Both places we were impacted by hurricanes. So as I sit in a mild summer in the Pacific NW, I know what you have been through. Being prepared as you have shared is the only way to live!
August 29, 2011 at 6:07 pm
We just got a lot of rain and wind, but had no real problems. Neighbors across the street lost power for the day, and a friend in Lincoln is still w/o power, but we lucked out. Our lot slopes down away from the road and I wonder of that’s why we had no tree damage…just that little extra protection. Glad that the forecasters prepared us for the worst…much better than not preparing us enough!
Nice work on al the prizes, Kathy! Do you do anything special with your bread dough?
August 29, 2011 at 8:38 pm
Happy to hear you came through the storm without too much wind. I was very lucky and did not lose power or any trees on my property. We had an uneventful day just working around the house inside. I did learn that I was not as prepared as I could have been and will now make a check list for myself of what I need to do, and make sure I have a dedicated shelf for all my emergency supplies. Right now I know where they are but they are not all in one place. So it was a good test for me. Nice job on all your awards-very exciting!
August 30, 2011 at 2:44 am
Very glad to hear there’s no major damage.
Congratulations on your show placings!
August 30, 2011 at 11:20 am
I had so hoped to see you at the Fair! Timing… it’s all about timing. My brownies and banana muffins took blue ribbons, as did my white eggs; my brown eggs took a 4th place, my whole-grain bread took a third, my tomatoes and grapes took red ribbons, my grape jam took a blue ribbon (!) but strawberry and blueberry didn’t place at all. My Icelandic sweater took a red ribbon – hurray! And my mother’s Fisherman’s Afghan took the blue ribbon, while my pink one took the red. And my children did really, really well, too
As far as the storm, we were SO fortunate here. 3.7″ of rain, and the wind didn’t knock down more than clusters of oak leaves and a few twigs, and though my jerusalem artichokes were knocked flat, my corn did fine. I hope that you still have lots to harvest there! Glad everyone’s safe, and that there’s not too too much cleanup.
August 31, 2011 at 8:23 am
You mentioned you did not have much use for pinto beans. I have a copy of the following cookbook which is available on Amazon. Beans are great prep foods. From the Queens Kitchen is a Collection of pinto bean recipes from a cooking contest in the southwest. Everything from appetizers to desserts. They even have a beverage recipe using pintos.