The battery of our battery-powered light sources (and a few oil based ones) for which (so far) we have not had to use.

Well, not quite Goodnight, but close. Most of you out there are probably too young to remember the song of the same name. I lifted these two sentences from the lyrics:

You cause me to weep, you cause me to mourn
You cause me to leave my home

We did not have to leave our home like so many others, nor did we do any weeping although there was quite a bit of anxiety involved. Mostly now we are worried about all the huge trees surrounding our house and what the rain saturated ground and now escalating winds will do to them. Hopefully all will be as well as our weathering the storm last night and into this morning.

Yesterday the turkeys were acting very strangely. They all came to feed as they usually do, but then they all starting digging in the mulch under our burning bush hedge in front and laying down as if they were all trying to nest. Trust me, the sight of 18 turkeys (grown plus 13 babies) all doing the same thing was very odd. The dogs were acting strangely too. All on edge and jumpy. I am thinking the huge drop in the barometric pressure was to blame.

As it was getting dark last night Bella was barking from the back yard and looking into the front yard. She was pretty adamant about it and it wasn’t because neighbor Finnbarr was out. Rick went out front to check it out and saw a big black shape in the driveway. By the time he got out there it had gone. More than likely a bear who felt the strange air preceding the storm as well.

Here are a couple of captures from yesterday’s weather report on the television from ABC news with Lee Goldberg. I love the shape of Irene in this photo. She is one awesome and quite beautiful force of nature.

I just had to take this photo which shows the county we live in being dissected by one of the course projection lines. (The furtherest to the left: blue and pink converging on each other.) Now that was scary!

Overall we had right at 7 inches of rain since just before midnight last night. This does not impact us, but further down in places like Wayne (where Rick works) it spells disaster and flooding.

The “little” creek behind our house has overflowed its banks and is more like a river.

Our power went out in a tiny glitch around 11:00 p.m. last night. Not enough to disturb the clocks or anything else. It went off and on again twice close to 4:00 a.m. which was enough to reset the smoke alarms and send everything else in our house into a tizzy. The dogs hate the beep of the smoke alarms, so they all ended upstairs wanting attention with us. The winds were really strong around 2:00 a.m. and wind driven sheets of rain were pelting the windows. Then it all seemed to calm down a bit until later when the rains set in again big time.

Right now the sun is sort of out at 1:20 p.m. and it is very breezy to windy. I would love to go out and explore now that the rain has finally stopped but I am worried about trees falling over. After one man died last spring in our community when a tree landed on the car he was driving and killed him (his wife in the passenger seat was spared), then a few months later a colleague of Rick’s was killed in the same way. Again, his wife survived and he was killed instantly. Since then I have a whole new respect for wind and trees. (Katie, I hope you’re doing well!) I think now it’s become a phobia for me.

Airports closed, public transportation shut down, roads and bridges closed. WOW. Seems hard to believe. But I agree with their choices wholeheartedly. There are always those people who go against the grain and need to be “rescued” from situations they should never have gotten themselves into in the first place. Yet the tax payers always seem to end up paying for their stupidity. What a system. And might I add that it seems no American can be responsible for their own actions anymore. There is always someone else to lay the blame on. Truly sad. I think I’m getting old.

ANYWAY, in honor of my Mom’s birthday yesterday, or should I say what would have been her 85th birthday, I made her spaghetti and meatball recipe. I had never really been a fan before, but after trying various different recipes and having them all taste not so good, I went back to a classic. I miss you so much Mom! I would love now to ask you if this is Nana Monroe’s recipe or if you made it up yourself?

I am happy to report a resounding success! It was delicious! Yummmmm.

So, enough for now. Just wanted to let anyone out there who might be concerned that all is well at the moment. Now we have to decide which things to put back out around the pool before we leave for Colorado. Maybe nothing since we mostly took down the cabana except for the side curtains which we just tied to the structure; the canoe is safely tucked inside the basement (thanks to neighbor Mark for his help!); the deck planter boxes are down and the flowers pretty much done.

Maybe I should thank Ms. Irene for helping us jump start the fall clean up?

Maybe not. She’s been a disruptive little bitch. (Please pardon my language.)

The spaghetti and meatball recipe was originally Nana’s. Not sure if Mom changed it at all, but I’m looking forward to trying it again myself. (with Dad’s Italian bread to go along with it)!

Hey Sis, thanks for the comment and good to know it *was* Nana’s recipe. I just didn’t know and for sure did not know that you knew. whew, what a sentence!

A relief to hear you are all safe and sound - and tucking into what looks like a delicious meal of meatballs with tomato sauce.

Thank you Joyce! It was delicious and we also have plenty of leftovers for another great meal!