One picket and our electricity

That's our casualties, so far.

After posting last night at 4:30, the worst of the storm blew in. The garage doors were creaking, the wind was more than howling. The vent in our safe room started to drip due to the mere force of the wind and rain. There was banging. And it was hot and stuffy. It was scary.

The great news is that Henry totally slept through ALL of it. He slept until about 8. And then we all gradually got up and started taking stock of the situation.

Before the power went out last night, we brewed a pot of coffee. We have a thermal carafe on our coffee pot, so while we didn't have steaming hot coffee, we had a nice cup of lukewarm coffee...which was better than nothing.

The yard and street is totally covered in limbs, leaves and other debris. We may be missing a few shingles off the roof. It seems that the dish (that we don't use) might have blown loose.

The biggest inconvenience is that we still don't have power. You don't realize how much we depend on electricity. The refrigerator started leaking, so we emptied the freezers and fridge into coolers. Fortunately, Leslie's parents have power and an extra feezer in the garage. So we've brought all of our meat out here for storage (and that's how I have access to post).

We went out for a drive earlier this morning. The curfew had been extended to 2 p.m., so we stayed in our own neighborhood. Many lost their trees and had extensive roof damage. Many fences were blown down. Driving out to Leslie's parents' house this afternoon, we were amazed at all the billboards and huge trees that have been blown over.

We are enjoying watching a bit of the news to see what else is going on around town. We're not quite sure how things are going shape up for the work week. Right now, my cell and sprint card for my laptop are both refusing to work. I can get/receive text messages, but can't make or receive phone calls. I found a phone that works without electricity, so my office landline is plugged in and functioning.

I'll continue to post as I have access...