We do not Like Ike

.
Nothing like a li'l ol' hurricane to shake up your Sunday.

Apparently Ike didn't like the Midwest as he passed over. He really blasted us. The strange thing was, we didn't get the rain where we live, just incredible winds -- 40 to 50 mph sustained, and 70 mph gusts.

After coming home from Mass and having brunch, we settled in for the afternoon. I was writing study guides and lesson plans and Josh was doing homework. Geoff was cleaning out his closet preparing to leaving for college this week, and the younger kids were outside with Doug, shooting hoops or tossing the football, riding bikes. The wind started to pick up and Doug came in with the little kids. With so many trees in the back we don't like the kids to be outdoors during strong winds.

Before long we were having huge gusts, and I was praying a Hail Mary during each. I have never experienced such high winds and I've been through some decent tropical storms. But, when the wind gusts through huge 80 year-old trees that are just feet from your house, wind takes on a new meaning. The kids huddled together in the family room, everyone afraid to go upstairs.

The power went out just after 5, just as I was about to pop potatoes in the oven and start preparing the Coconut Shrimp for dinner.

And just a few minutes after that, the 25 foot Blue Spruce that was growing a mere five feet from the house went over, completely uprooted. It fell across the garden smashing everything in its path (I guess we won't be getting any more tomatoes). We are so fortunate that it fell away from the house. In fact, we are fortunate that it was the only whole tree that fell. We have huge limbs down all over the lawn and on the kids' swing set, but no major damage.

After a buffet dinner of Ramen noodles, reconstituted dried beans and rice, and fruit and tomatoes from the basket on the counter (I wouldn't let them open the refrigerator), we camped out in the family room in the dark and talked about what had value without electricity. Thank goodness for food and water. And wax for candles. And books. And stories retold by dad. The cell phones, once they're dead are just dead, but thank goodness for the land line. The television, the computer, the game systems are all worthless without electricity. It gave the kids a good glimpse of what has real value if you ever have to do without.

The power came on around 12:30, after we had all tossed and turned for two hours. The silence, in a house where all the kids have electric fans for white noise, had been deafening. But we had a good night's sleep and now it's time for the clean-up. Schools were canceled since so much of the city is still without power, so I'll busy the kids with picking up branches, leaves and acorns from the lawn, and examining the house for damage.

It was an experience that none of us will forget. I was saying to Geoffrey that if we didn't have trees, the storm wouldn't seem like much at all. I'm sure we would have heard the wind whistling, but hearing the rush of the wind though those huge tree tops made it much more terrifying. It made me ever more grateful that I don't live on the coast where Hurricanes are more common.

The views from the front.

The view from the garden.



The view from the back yard.

Thank you, Father, for keeping us safe.





.