On Thursday, September 11th, we realized that this storm may be bigger than we expected so I ran to Wal-Mart to stock up on somethings. It was a mad house and the hottest items seemed to be water, beer and toilet paper. I got everything that we had to have, plus a few luxuries and came home to bunker down. The rest of the day was spent waiting, watching, doing laundry and picking up around the house. That night we went to bed and by 3:45 am the power went out. By 4:00 you could here the storm move in. The windows were so loud and you could feel the thunder clap around you. I laid in bed trying to decipher for each snap or crash I heard. Maybe that was our roof or the neighbors. Should I go check? What would I do about it if it was? etc. I laid awake most of the night listening to the awesomeness of the storm. At one point, I woke Daddy-O up and had him move the kids into our room.
The next morning I was up with the sun and went out to survey the damage. Our house seemed to have fared pretty well. I couldn't see the entire roof, but what I could see looked okay. Across the street and two houses down, a tree landed on the back end of a pick up truck. At the end of the cul-de-sac there was a large tree down. We later learned there were 4 cars in the driveway under it.
We spent the day hanging out and trying to keep in touch with family, although it was difficult to get a call out. Daddy-O's parents were stuck in New York and my family decided to stay at their house. From what we could tell, everyone was okay.
Saturday was extremely hot and very humid. It rained most of the day. By mid day we discovered we had a large leak in our roof, over the living room. Apparently the tarp on our chimney blew lose and water leaked down it, along the roof line and was dripping from one of the large wooden rafters. When all was said and done, it ruined all of the wood floor we put down last year in the living and dinning room.
That night was miserable. It was so hot and trying to nurse Peanut was awful. We just sat in a puddle of sweat. She was so hot she didn't want to be held, but was obviously so thirsty. She would try to eat and get hot and throw up and then try again. She was very fussy and finally went to sleep. We all slept downstairs since it was a few degrees cooler. It was at least 85 degrees with very high humidity in the house.
Sunday my folks came by to see if we needed anything. It was still a hot day, but you could tell it was getting cooler. Sweet Pea and I gave each other pedicures and manicures and we tried to do as little as possible so that we could stay cool. We drove around some surveying the damage and trying to get reception on our phones. There was a large tree down across the road to our subdivision and another heading out of our neighborhood. Thankfully someone had cut gaps in them so we could pass. That night Chris came over and we played some board games by lantern light. While there he discovered that we had phone service, only we didn't have any phone other than the rechargeable ones. He also remembered that Sweet Pea had a little pink phone that Mammy and Pops had given her. We hooked it up and it worked fine. It was nice to feel a little normal again. By Sunday night, everything in the fridge and freezer had thawed and had to be tossed.
Monday we hung out at home and played board games. The weather was awesome. It cooled way down and the skies were clear. Everyone was outside working and playing and things seemed so much simpler. Sweet Pea and Peanut put on a puppet show for us.
Tuesday we went to my folks place for a change of scenery. Micah and Daddy-O went to work out of their boss' RV. Meanwhile we played with the kids, washed clothes on their generator and line dried them and Lisa, Mom and I went out in search of food, ice and gas. We found a Kroger that had all three and they were so well organized. I waited in the line for gas while they got groceries. They came out about 5 minutes before our turn for gas. We were in and out of there in about 1 and 1/2 hours. Not too shabby!
When we left there, I went to take Lisa home (the boys weren't done working yet) and as we got closer to their house we saw street lights. It was almost funny to see them. We got to their home and they had power. Daddy-O and I decided to go on home, since we didn't have anything with us to spend the night. The closer we got to our house, the darker it got. We came home and went to bed.
Wednesday we packed up some stuff and went on over to Micah and Lisa's. Peanut had a well check up and the doctor's office called to say they were open. We went to that and she got 5 vaccinations. Looking back I probably should have skipped this since there was so much going on. We spent Wednesday and Thursday night at their house, visiting, playing board games and resting. Thursday night we called hoping to get the answering machine at our house, but no luck.
Friday we woke up and the answering machine picked up. WE HAD POWER!!!! We were very excited and hurried home. I had mixed feelings heading home. On one hand I was ready to have my modern luxuries back, but on the other I had enjoyed a simpler, more relaxed life style. I loved playing board games by candlelight every single night. I loved depending on creativity for everything from cooking to entertainment. In some ways, I knew I would miss it.
We still haven't received a check from the insurance company, but we do know they are replacing the wood floor, fixing the leak , replacing the ceiling and walls that got wet and a couch that got wet. It will be nice to have it all done. We also had a lot of debris to clean up. Some of the limbs were big enough it took a chainsaw to cut through them.
Here are some of the pictures we got.
Saturday morning
The beauty salon
Looking out our media room window at the neighbors yard - This tree was actually behind our house, just on the other side of our fence and blew over their fence....strange
Passing time
Trying to stay cool
The not so fun tailgate party
This tree fell at our neighbors 8 hours after the storm
There are 3 cars and a truck under there
Limbs on the side of the house
On the way out of the subdivision
On the way out of the neighborhood
The power lines outside of Super Wal-Mart
Our old house
The puppeteers
Mail service on Monday the 15th
Micah on the little pink phone
Line drying
In line for gas
1 comment:
Looks like fun! Sorry I had to miss it.
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