Well, here we go! The rains began at 5:03PM. As I sit here with my lovely glass of Malbec (Yes, I'm hitting the sauce again!) looking out at my dogs snug in their kennels in the garage, I wonder what is in store. During a good rain our basement floods! I can only imagine what it will look like by tomorrow night when the storm is scheduled to end.

All we can do now is sit back and react. We have our autos filled with gas, the generator on board with 10 gallons of extra gas, 65 gallons of drinking water for us and the dogs, battery powered lanterns, flashlights with extra batteries, our Red Cross crank radio, a full frig of food with non-perishables in the pantry, 3 bags of ice in the freezer and our favorite ice creams ;o) All of our patio furniture, umbrellas, and potted plants have been stored safely so as not to fly around and hit the house. We have plenty of water to flush toilets, etc. with the pool and pond filling up! The pumps are ready to go for the garage and we have our wet/dry vac in the basement - Just in case!

While I still love living here and would never return West, I want to smack the people who said the weather was mild here before we signed the papers on the farm. Since we arrived, we have had 2 record snowfall winters, 2 record heat wave summers, an earthquake (Thought we left those behind! Ha!), and now a freak'n hurricane! I often wonder if the weather follows me as I was in Hurricane Hugo in Puerto Rico and was in the Loma Prieta earthquake (The whopping 6.9 on Kim's birthday I might add!) in 1989. Geez!

The winds are picking up, yet I know it is just a breeze for now. We plan on leaving the lights on outside to monitor the river that will head for the house from the upper 5 acre hay field. The good news is that after it passes the house it goes into the pond and then spills out to our creek and the little community of Mt. Pleasant. The dogs will love the extra depth on their water retrieves!

Well, I guess for now we will make dinner and watch our rented movies until the real fun begins.

For those of you in the North of us and in Irene's path, I ask that you make wise decisions and remain safe. No object, may it be a house, a car, etc. is worth your life or the lives of your family, friends and animals. All material things can be replaced. The things you love cannot.

Off to make a Caesar salad!

Michael

Hey, Michael. I'll be sure to send my daughter, Ginna, up to your farm with her husband and two little boys when the Delaware over flows into their basement on Monday. Last time this happened, my son in law was using his kayack to get around Frenchtown. You're better prepared for them than I am....and I'm the grandmother! I should be getting better at this......

Hi Faith ...

We have plenty of room at the farm. If your family gets into trouble you can send them our way. We are at high ground as we are 3 miles from the Delaware River so we will not endure her wrath! You know our number!

Best, Michael

It's 6:45am and we are starting to feel the affects of the storm as it creeps towards tiny little Rhode Island. We are all as prepared as we can possibley be, although I'm wishing my husband would have listened to me about having some trees taken down in our yard. I took a ride to get the Sunday paper and there are already some large branches down in the streets. As I drove by Gaspee Cove (a normally quiet body of water) a half mile from my home I could see the boat thrashing about and the many swans all huddled together all trying to ride this out. My husband has to leave for work just as the eye of the storm is due to touch down in Rhode Island. I'm thinking I'll be taking shots of Rescue Remedy so that I can keep my stress in check!

Everyone take care out there! Be safe.....soon this angry lady "Irene" will fly by and be done with us....

so far 3-4 inches of rain and high winds in Worcester county MA....

How did everything go for everyone?

Johanne

So far - 3 large trees blown over. On their way down they demolished one small tree, half of one large tree, a telephone pole and all the wires. The tops are across the side street so it is is closed. Now we are in the calm and waiting for the next bout as the storm continues on her way north.

My son has a generator that runs our whole house, so we are in relative comfort. However, I have the fussiest, noisiest 7 week + 4 day old puppies I have ever had. They are outside until the 2nd part of the storm gets started.

Clean up will start tomorrow and it ain't gonna be fun.

We were without power for three days. Luckily our litter is three weeks old and were ok with the cooler temps at night. It is amazing how you miss something as simple as turning on a light switch.