Monday, August 29, 2011

Irene Visits...An Update

Hurricane Irene made it up to the Northeast corner of the country yesterday.  As predicted by the forecasters, we woke up to some relatively substantial winds and rain coming from the North.  This meant that we, as opposed to Boston, got the front side of her (or what was left of her at that point).  The power went out at the farm around 7:30 in the morning.   The village center where the church is still had power when we arrived for service at 10, and one of the congregants was actually making sloppy joes for coffee hour to use up some meat.  In the middle of the second hymn, the lights dimmed, and we knew power failure was in the near future.  A few moments later, the organ stopped playing and we were left singing a Capella for a couple stanzas before a volunteer moved to the piano in time for the next verse.  Bud went to grab some of the candles normally reserved for Christmas and Easter, and we went through the rest of the service in candlelight.

Back on the farm, I spent much of the afternoon playing board games with Bud, reading, and spinning wool.  We do have a generator, and plugged the fridge in for a few hours.   I wasn't worried about the freezers, as they tend to maintain a cool enough temperature a few days as long as they aren't opened.

There was some substantial flooding in our basement which we pumped out sporadically with the generator throughout the day.  There's also a spot near the chimney that leaks when there is a hard rain.  It's right where Belle, the mutt, normally sleeps, so she wasn't so keen on being displaced (better than being rained on, I suppose).  We also had leaking on our first floor on the North side.  This was highly unusual, as the water has to make it down an entire floor inside our walls.  We concluded that the attic vents on that side were getting pummeled by the rain blowing in sideways all day and the water was getting in that way.  The ceiling is wood, not plaster, which makes us a little less concerned than we would be otherwise.  

After dinner, my darling husband and went up to the sheep pasture to repair some of the netting that had fallen down with the wind (the sheep were not very motivated to go anywhere). 

We all went to bed around 9pm, and woke up to no power and no phone (and no cell service).  We also had a very warm refrigerator (the only thing we ended up tossing were left over burgers, which the pigs enjoyed). While I went on my morning run, I was able to survey some of the damage.  Several large trees had come down (one on top of a neighbor's home), and there was no power anywhere (except for the filthy rich weekenders down the road who apparently have a whole home generator and had all sorts of lights on!!!).

The power did come back on shortly after I returned from the run.  We would have been okay for a few more days, but it would have been irritating.   However, just after midnight on Tuesday morning, the hardwired smoke detectors started beeping, indicating that the power was out...again.  It was quite a rude awakening, as I had only fallen asleep an hour earlier.   Also, I wasn't exactly sure how to turn them off, since they were hardwired, and my brain was not fully functioning.  First I had to find some light, but had stowed all of the flashlights and lanterns away during the day assuming that the power was on for good (I know, when you assume, you only make an ass out of "u" and "me").  Anyway, I blindly felt my way down to the basement steps where I had hung the (battery-powered) Coleman lantern.  I wandered back upstairs in the fluorescent glow of the lantern, woke up Bud with the harsh light (who was very dismayed to hear that the power was out, but even more annoyed by the beeping of the smoke detector) and proceeded to tear out the wires from the back of the smoke detector (don't worry Mr. Code-Man, I didn't break or cut any wires, and we'll put everything back together when the power comes back on). Really, the most worrisome aspect would be  of this second outage is keeping the fences charged.  The pigs, particularly, are curious critters and wouldn't have minded won't mind going exploring. Our two solar chargers may or may not be recharging their batteries effectively at this point.  NYSEG is not giving any estimates about when the power will come back on, but they are warning it could be next week.  Bud mentioned that it was like going back in time and being "old-school" (this is his new favorite phrase) and he was quite content not to have to bathe.  I, however, am taking full advantage of being back on a college campus and showering at the gym here.

In closing, here is a lovely picture of the storm descending on the North Carolina coast.  A FB friend posted the picture.  I don't know the photographer myself, but I think he should definitely enter this one in a photo contest!

Photo by David Hutzenbiler