Good Night IRENE!!!

What a day! John, Allie, Jeff & I awoke to a bit of chaos. Hurricane Irene was supposed to slam into the Tidewater area....but instead, she decided to visit us....and when I say us, I mean Deer Run Drive! We had one major tree across the drive, John's little plum trees were uprooted & on their sides, but the biggest miss of all was the HUGE OAK tree beside our back deck. Irene uprooted it and slammed it to the ground, thankfully AWAY from the house!
We had parked Al & Jeff's cars down at the circle so we could have a vehicle in case trees fell across the driveway (which they always do during a big storm). Sherry had called to say that a huge pine tree just missed Al's car...power lines are all gnarled down there....multiple trees across the Hass drive and yard and a big oak fell into their pool and flattened their gazebo.
John & I cut thru the tree and cleared enough room for the cars in the driveway while Allie went out to scavange batteries & water. She came back empty handed.....with all the power out, stores and service stations had no goods nor gas.
John went to Prince George Christian to preach (I couldn't believe they were having church!) while Al & I scrambled in Home Depot and bought a generator. Later in the afternoon, the two of us went almost to Crewe to get gas....Petersburg was no place to be if you were sane. Cars lined up for literally miles....police rerouting traffic around Wawa....
We made it home....hooked up the generator to the refrig and the three of us headed to the pool in our bathing suits for baths. We fixed dinner by flashlight and all curled up in the bedroom with the fans and tv. We were "living high on the hog!".
Once we get this generator thing figured out we'll be able to shuffle appliances a little more easily. I'm thankful for at least being able to contact the outside world with cell phones and facebook. We're thankful for the cooler evenings too...our generator isn't big enough to run the air conditioning.
Tomorrow, Al & I head to Richmond to finish packing up the final tubs from her house and bring a load home. She and a friend are borrowing a pickup and trailer Tuesday and bringing the final pieces of furniture. She also has a class at VCU tomorrow nite if the school is open....
So, ...an airplane fiasco, an earthquake and a hurricane all in one week. Don't think I can top that anytime soon!
P.S. The photo is of circle up one morn at workcamp....we sing "Sweetly Sings the Donkey" to wake everyone up, so one of the staff decided to bring a REAL donkey to morning sendoff. His name is "Donkey".