Hurricane Irene: Mostly good news here!

We have no power or phone/Internet/cable at home yet, so I'll have to make this quick since I'm posting from my local library's wi-fi link. Please excuse any typos and poor editing to follow!

For us, the rain started anround midnight Friday-Saturday. It didn't get heavy until closer to sunrise, around the same time the wind began to pick up.

We had a blackout around midday, but it was brief, and the power stayed on as the rain and wind continued the rest of the day. Power didn't go out "for real" until 10pm Saturday.

The storm continued heavily not much longer, then tapered off until early morning Sunday. By the time Boy 2 woke us up (as usual--yawn) just before 2am for help in the bathroom, it was almost entirely still outside.

Our neighborhood sustained very little damage. My next-door neighbor's mailbox post snapped off right at ground level, and our hundred-pound cast-iron and hardwood park bench was overturned but undamaged. There's very small evidence of damage to the bricks at the top of our chimney, but nothing serious at all. Otherwise, it's just messy--tree limbs down and lots of extra raking to do. Beginning a few blocks out from us, there are some sections of fencing and a few trees down. It could have been so, so much worse. We are grateful!

With no power, of course the AC's off and humidity's climbing. And this means the mosquitoes are abounding--as well as, disturbingly, flies, lots and lots of flies. Grateful once again that this time we had no shredded screens, so most of those unwanted guests remain outside!

Local grocery stores are open again, so, other than being hot and swatting at insects, we're doing just fine. We're discovering once again that you can cook just about anything over charcoal.

Downtown area's damage was more significant, but last we heard, utilities are all restored there. So T will be back at work tomorrow, slogging through leaks most likely, but otherwise doing what he does same as usual.

So, long story short--we're still off the grid for the time being (no estimate yet for how long), but otherwise fine, just fine!