My husband is a survival show junkie...he watches them, reads survival guides, has all the gear and was ready to go when he heard Irene was headed straight for us.
Me on the other hand, I didnt really think it would hit. I mean honestly, we live in New England, we never have hurricanes, not bad ones anyway.
The way the news made this one sound freaked me out.
Then there was the police and fire trucks that came the day before warning us to evacuate. Stay at our own risk. "If you stay we cant help you", they said to us. They even took our next of kin information.
That was enough to put me over the edge. I was ready to pack it up and take off.
Not Brian. Nope, he was staying put to ride it out. He told me to take the kids and go up to his brothers house in the northern part of the state. I almost did. But then reality hit and if I was going to be with anyone during this hurricane it was going to be my husband. So we stayed. I am glad we did. It was not bad at all and kind of an adventure.
Early Sunday, the morning of the storm Brian woke me up (I mean 4am early). We had lost power and he was on the back porch with the grill boiling water for the french press. He woke me with "c'mon, we have no power, I made coffee on the grill, grab the boy and get up, I know you like your coffee hot". I mean he was like a kid on Christmas morning. I couldnt resist. I grabbed Shaney (he was cuddled up next to me) and headed towards the coffee.
The rest of the day the four of us had our heads pressed against the windows and back door. The winds were strong, it rained off and on but nothing like I expected. I kept texting my friends and family with power to see if it hit us yet and when it was supposed to be over. I didnt want it to end.
It was almost uneventful. We lost power and lost some tree limbs but nothing awful happened and I was thankful.
(getting our road closed down due to down power lines)
(we were waiting for that thing to come down)
As soon as we thought it was safe we were out and about. Touring the neighborhood.
Black Rock was lucky. There was flooding but nothing awful and a few homes were damaged due to down trees but all in all we stayed strong!
The next day was amazing. We had no power which equals no distractions. No tv, no computer, no cooking, not very much cleaning, just good old fashion fun. Being outside all day, fresh air, friends, and fun!
Black rock just felt different when there was no power.
I would say it was almost a glorified camping trip. We went to a few hurricane parties, spent the entire day outside, and just had tons of fun. There were times when I wanted the power to come back but that meant back to the real world.
So in one week we had an earthquake (I felt nothing) and a hurricane (down graded to a tropical storm). That is why I wonder, Do I really live in New England? Winter is coming, I am sure I will not questions that in January. There will be no question in my mind that I live here!!!
Have a great week.
