Some Catching Up

We are slowly getting back to normal and it's been a frenzied trip in some ways. First job was to catch up on two weeks' worth of laundry--since we'd been way for a week before the big storm, we had all that wash plus a second weeks' worth as we waited for the electricity to be restored. The washer has been working overtime. Second was removal of the broken tree limbs and other debris. In the process we discovered more broken things--my big metal bird was headless for a few days until we found his head, minus his funky topknot; the project area I showed in a photo a few weeks ago was destroyed, the chair smashed the bird bath broken (and a piece missing that we have yet to find) and the flowerpots dumped so all the flowers died. My peppermint patch was also smashed, ruining this year's crop. Many other flowers and shrubs are damaged or dead; some died due to lack of water because we had no way to water them during those scorching 100+ degree days. We also found the chimney cap over the hill, and assorted other things tossed about. Larry was able to repair the shed roof that was blown off, but has yet to fix my yard swing--it's supporting beam was literally ripped off of the two trees supporting it. So progress is being made. We are watering the gardens again and see some hope for saving some of the vegetables, although the new beans succumbed and some cucumbers are blighting. This will go down as a very bad garden year for us, at least for the summer crops. Fortunately we had excellent spring gardens and I am hoping we can get some fall crops planted too. We'll probably have to buy corn and possibly tomatoes to can this year. With no water the plants just can't produce as they should. I also lost two storytelling performances scheduled for Monday as those communities are still without electricity. In West Virginia yesterday there were still about 45,000 people without power. I can imagine how frustrating it must be. As Wayfarin' Stranger said in his comment on my last post, it's like going back 50 years or more but without the infrastructure that was in place in those days to deal with such issues. Like a hand-dug well so water would be available, ice blocks sold at fuel companies, and almost all homegrown food canned, dried or smoked--few had freezers in those times. Still, we managed fairly well. And I learned that our property insurance covers up to $500 in food lost due to a power outage, so that will help restock. We did not have insurance for years so this was a pleasant surprise. I am still unable to post photos as the library computers will not allow me to access my SD camera card. So until I can get access at home, or download my photos to an external drive, I can't share any of the many photos I have taken over the past three weeks. Expect a deluge when I can finally get them online! Copyright 2007 Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.