The BIG Storm

I guess if there's ever a good day to be sick, this was it. I woke up this morning still not feeling up to par and hearing the unmistakable sound of a storm raging outside. Calling in sick was pretty much a no-brainer, although I hate missing work when it's such a short work week to begin with. Still . . . .

Because the lights kept flickering off and on, I decided to get up, have a hot cup of coffee while I still could, and do a little sewing while watching the non-stop weather coverage on the TV. I actually thought going back to sleep for awhile was a better plan, but I figured I'd put it off for a bit so I'd have something to do later if the electricity went out.

All morning long, the winds were high and the wind gusts were even higher. On the news, they talked about big rig trucks blowing over and blocking freeways. Trees had fallen down, crashing through homes in some instances. Flights were cancelled. When I looked out into our back yard, I saw that our back fence had blown down. Today was the day for our weekly garbage pick up. Our recyclable container had fallen over, and the newspaper inside was so water-logged I could barely stand it back up. I had to hunt down our regular garbage container--it had blown across and down the street. By the time I took care of those things, I was soaking wet and happy to get back inside, dry off, and change clothes.

A limb of our neighbor's tree cracked off. The wife had come home for an early lunch and noticed it breaking, so she called her husband. By the time he got home, the branch was resting on his roof, and he came over to see if we had a chain saw. While he and I talked, we watched--and heard!--the branch crack the rest of the way. He'll have a mess to deal with, but he got up on his roof and didn't see any noticeable damage, luckily.

I discovered leaks in the roof over the garage. We aren't sure if there are actual leaks or whether the high winds just forced the water up underneath the shingles, but with rain predicted for the next several days, I guess we'll have an opportunity to find out! The roof is only about five years old, so if there are any true leaks, it's still under warranty.

All in all, though, we came through the storm pretty well, considering. Our area will have to watch for flooding--the rain got pretty heavy at times and caused some localized street flooding but I understand most of it is subsiding now.

It sure was a good day to stay home and not have to be out in the storm! I never did get that nap though--many are still without power, but we were fortunate enough not to have lost ours, so I kept sewing and watching the news. Time for bed now--I'm hoping to get a good night's rest and feel better in the a.m. Thanks for all your comments wishing me well! For those of you here in California or elsewhere in the path of this storm, I hope you were as fortunate as we were!