Irene's the talk of the town

We got side-swiped by Irene last weekend. We were some of the lucky ones who only lost power for just about 24 hours. Some of our friends and neighbors went four or more days without power. We did not get off completely unscathed. After Irene swept through we were short two very tall pine trees in our backyard, a couple sections of our fence and one of our small playstructures.

Here's a view from the deck of the mess the storm left behind.

Why, hello there, big humongous pine tree that doesn't belong in our yard, let alone through our fence.

Goodbye little green slide.


The kids were surprisingly good about the loss of power and the absence of television, video games, computer games and movies. Not to mention microwave popcorn. They entertained themselves completely the entire day we were stuck at home. So much so, I was able to read three entire books.

At one point I found all three of them in the dog crate, which they had draped with quilts to make a little cave. When asked what they were doing, I was told they were playing poor people. The crate was their cardboard box that they lived in. Sounds like a fun game. Kooky little kids. They also sat and colored for a bit. I call what they created "art therapy."

Sam drew a picture of the storm being defeated by his and the girls' stuffed animals.

Katie's picture shows the downed trees with the storm still raging overhead.


Teresa's picture depicts another dog crate activity of the kids. They crawled into their cave with flashlights and books (Sam's very extensive library of books about hurricanes) to read together.

We are slowly cutting up the trees and raking up the billions of small pine boughs and leaves. I hope we are able to get rid of this tree more quickly than the one that fell down this past winter. It was in our yard so long the kids actually named it. Bob. Bob the tree. Joe had just finished cutting it all up about a week before Irene. Mother Nature has a twisted sense of humor.