Where to start...IRENE

Well, Irene came and went and left some damage.  I didn't really take it seriously until a few days before she arrived.  At that point, I started buying water, stocking up on peanut butter and tuna and the kids started making fun of me.  It cracks me up because it wasn't until it was hitting and the damage was done that the 18, 15 and 14 year old were saying, "Wow...she did some damage."  You all laughed at me until you saw what it could do. 

Our damage was "snow days" from school - one for me (which I had to go in anyway) and two for Wallingford because the buses could not drive on roads with trees in them.

We also experienced power outage from Sunday a.m. until Wed. a.m.  That was something I never even had to live through in my 42 years.  It was nuts....up to Dad's to shower and do laundry.  At the same time, the Petit's were up at Dad's doing the same thing.  It was like a revolving door and I don't know if Dad knew what was up....his house hasn't seen that much action in about 20 years.  As far as food goes...we lucked out.  The bar and grille next door did not lose power (of course we were the last ones on the electricity line....just our luck.)  They had an outside outlet, so Bob asked (we are friendly with the owner/workers...they are nice people) if we could hook up an extension cord and run it to our house.  We were able to hook up our front room refrigerator that we have and move all of our food up there.  We also hooked up one light and one small tv.  It was enough to keep the kids entertained a bit.  The first two nights we did not have tv, so our entertainment was a little weird-but interesting. 

We watched the cars head down our street going 45 miles an hour, only to discover there was yellow tape across the road and a tree/power pole in the road.  At least 5 people went through the tape.  Bob called the police department saying tape wasn't enough.  They told him to call public works, so he did and said the same thing.  They said call the police department; we don't have enough man power to put signs up all around town.  So....it wasn't until someone actually drove through a saw horse the police put up...he cracked his windshield.  At that point, the police and fire department came to make the situation safer, until electricity was restored. 

We sat in the front window and as cars came through we could tell if they were going to slow down and see the tape or go flying through it.  If we had a fast one coming we would say, "Here she comes...watch out..."  Yes, it was weird entertainment, but there we sat with our candles and flashlights, as a family.

We did get electricity back on Wed. and everyone was glad to get back to their regular routines.