That's Great, It Starts With An Earthquake....

August 23, 2011 - the day after our 19th Wedding Anniversary - an earthquake of 5.8 magnitude hit the east coast at 1:51 p.m., centered in Virginia.  To be honest, I didn't feel it - we were in the car coming home from the thrift store at the time.  I had a premonition about it, though, which I promptly dismissed as one of those fleeting "in one ear, out the other" thoughts.  I should have paid attention.

The next day, the media started making noise about a Hurricane Irene,  which looked to be making a path up the east coast, with a bee-line for New York and New England.  This warning I did not dismiss; we were overdue for a hit and if I had had any doubts, the sky on the morning of August 27th was a brilliant illustration of "red sky at morning; sailor take warning".

We battened down our hatches, purchased the requisite milk and bread, threw in some ice and beer for good measure, and hunkered down.  Being a household with regular loss of electricity, we are somewhat better prepared than our less rural neighbors, with lanterns, oil lamps, flashlights, camp stoves and the MUCH coveted "D" cell batteries.

A wedding had been planned for Saturday night at the Bellamy-Ferriday House, which I had volunteered to work, leading guests on a house tour during cocktail hour.  Friday saw the arrival of three massive tents - one for the wedding, one for the dinner and one for the dance floor and band.  The bridal party was busy shuttling boxes of booze to the barn for storage and the caterer arrived with the tablecloths, dinnerware and champagne flutes.

Saturday was my day to volunteer at the Red Barn Thrift store; Steve made a wonderful "Hurricane Blow Out Sale" sale sign to display, and I set up a special "Hurricane Helpers" shelf at the store, with every candle, candle holder and oil lamp we owned.  We nearly sold out of candles.

The rain was fitful all day long, coming in violent downbursts then tapering off and repeating.  The parking lot of LaBonne's grocery store was packed consistently throughout the morning and afternoon but people were good-natured and many were excited about the impending storm.  Around 2:00 p.m., I got a call from my supervisor at Bellamy-Ferriday, informing me that the bride had thought the better of it and was moving her ceremonies to a local hotel.  I'm sure the fact the wooden dance floor was under a foot of water might have helped sway her decision!

FaceBook was all aTwitter with emotions ranging from way too blasé to end times prophecy spouters. As Saturday evening wore on, the rain began in earnest and the winds picked up slightly.  As midnight approached, I decided to get a little bit of shut-eye and packed it in.

The kitties, of course, remained complacent throughout the ordeal.

Morning came too quickly; dawn came not at all as sheets of rain obscured the visibility and the wind was waxing fierce, causing a steady thudding of dead branches parting company with the oak trees.  The lights flickered and failed and came back on regularly, causing flashing time clocks all over the house.  Every time we lost power momentarily, our umbilical cord to the world failed, and rebooted, and then failed again.  The worst of the storm was roughly from sunrise until noon; six hours of pounding rain and whipping winds and fear for the oak trees in the yard.

Around 2:00, neighbors started venturing out to survey the damage in the 'hood.  Surprisingly light, all things considered, with branches and leaves littering the yards and roads but no trees down in our immediate area.  Ellen and I decided that we should venture out for a more thorough inspection, and we packed Michael, Mary-Grace and goldfish in her Explorer and took a spin around the Lake Winnemaug Beach, Logue Farms, Route 6 in Woodbury, up through Middlebury and the other side of our lake in Watertown, and home again.

Post hurricane grazing - the bulls are fine!

Tree snapped off about 10' up and taking down the power lines on Hamilton Avenue.

Traveling companion, Miss Mary Grace.  You can NOT resist the cuteness, trust me!

All in all, while we in our little corner of Watertown escaped virtually unscathed, the surrounding communities and counties were not as fortunate.  Bethlehem, Woodbury and Middlebury suffered a total loss of electricity.  New London county at nearly 100% outage for all their towns.  Fairfield County was hit hard, and my old home town of Fairfield lost several beach houses and flooded up Reef Road all the way up to the Transfer Station, a good 1/2 mile inland.  As the storm surged, every road south of Old Field Road in the beach area was evacuated.  Rhode Island and the Cape didn't bear the brunt but Vermont and upstate New York were hammered, as evidenced by heartbreaking YouTube videos of historic bridges being swept away by raging rivers.

As I write this three days after the storm, school has been canceled yet again for Watertown, and in Bethlehem and Woodbury, they've delayed the start of school until after Labor Day - just like the 'good old days'.  There are still over 400,000 households without power in our state, and over 2 million in New England.

And Hurricane Katia is making her way toward the Bahamas.