We hurried back from Kentucky because I had training for camp and Michael was on his Interventional Radiology rotation. Training week was intense because there was so much organization to be done. It's going to be a great summer and the first week with the campers (this past week) went extremely well for a first week of camp. Now you are caught up on why I've been missing. Well, almost.
I got home from work on Thursday around quarter to 5. The sky was looking black in the distance so I took the dog out, picked up the trash can, grabbed some yogurt, and sat at the window with Theo to watch the weather. The power went out and then it began. We sat for no more than 10 minutes, watching debris flying through the air, wind twisting huge trees, and big ol' fat rain coming down. Maybe sitting at the window wasn't my brightest idea, but in my defense I had been at the pool with the campers in the morning and outside at the park all afternoon. I didn't fare too well for my first day in the sun and the heat (and it's been hot). Theo and I laid on the couch listening to the sounds of sirens and waiting for Michael to call saying he needed a ride home. I really didn't think that much of the sirens until Michael called to say he was done but I wouldn't be able to get to the hospital because traffic was a mess and there were trees and power lines down everywhere. I also failed to notice the pine tree across the street that had been snapped in half.
Still no power (and still not realizing the impact of this storm), Michael's friend picked us up for an adventure in finding dinner. Billy skillfully maneuvered through the streets to Fry's Spring Station. The place was packed and so was every other restaurant around it. We ended up traveling 29 North and eating at Five Guy's which was also packed. On the way back home it got darker and darker. No one had power. Camp was cancelled for Friday. Thursday night wasn't too hot. I was exhausted and slept like a baby.
I've been hearing that this storm was a microburst. Apparently it's the second one we've had in a month, but the first one wasn't anything compared to this one. I think the area where we live was hit the worst. We're talking telephone poles snapped in half, trees blocking the streets, tangled and downed power lines. It looks like a hurricane hit.
That piece of tree isn't as small as it looks. Also, they are removing it from a roof.
Hm... that branch kind of looks like a wishbone. I wish I had a/c.
Friday I brought Michael to the hospital which was still running on back up power and I decided that the lack of a/c wouldn't stop me from being productive. Of course the things you want to do when the power goes out all require power. I read more of my June book (which I've had to renew twice) and I still don't think I'll finish by the end of the week although I started it mid-May. I finished a couple knitting projects. Then I went to the vet to pick up a course of steroids for Theo who has started licking his paws incessantly again. I should say that I braved getting out of the house because no one in this town got the memo that an intersection whose lights aren't working should be treated as a four way stop. Anyway I had lunch at Eppie's and went to Mudhouse to have coffee- but mainly to charge my phone. A fly and his entire extended family danced to G Love and Jack Johnson while I tried to read more of my book.
I had realized the night before that the Gulf shrimp my parents had brought weren't going to make it past Friday in the freezer. Fortunately we have friends with grills. Billy (who never lost power) was actually already grilling beer can chicken and graciously let us bring our shrimp over to be grilled. It wouldn't have been the first time we had something fantastic be ruined in a freezer by having no power. The fourth paragraph will tell you what you need to know. Maybe the lesson here is don't save delicious things for too long? Maybe not. We only had the shrimp for a couple weeks and I had already made Shrimp Creole. Anyway. We stayed at Billy's for a while. Watched some of the Clemson baseball game then decided our time would be better spent eating frozen yogurt at Arch's. Luckily The Corner had power. On our way home we saw that houses two blocks from us had power, but we still had none. (I'm not complaining. I saw the damage, and I saw the power company working to get it fixed.) This time I took a cool shower and slept fine.
It was already 78 degrees in the house when we woke up. We roughed it at Bodo's for breakfast then came home to throw out the contents of our refrigerator.
Actually, we were far from unhappy about our breakfast bagels. This photo was pre-consumption of coffee.
Equally sad to toss out were the red beans, but we bested that power outage by grilling the shrimp and that's what counts.
We went to the store to get ingredients to make the best baked beans ever (thanks to Dennis and Rebecca for first showing us what baked beans could taste like). On the way there we took a few detours and saw some really crazy destruction. Then we headed to Pete's for grilled burgers, baked beans, Tito's lemonade, and strawberries. Oh, and the USA v. Ghana soccer game. A/C is nice. Theo doesn't seem to mind the heat, but we brought him with us since I figured it would get really hot in the afternoon. (The sun pretty much bakes our duplex from morning to evening.) I worked on a cross stitch project that I haven't picked up since my time of unemployment. It helped with the tension of the game.
We had scheduled dinner and drinks with a friend (and her boyfriend) who (whom?) (too many parentheses?) (delirium from finally getting power back?) I met when I went to Nova Scotia in the summer of 2006. We happen to be living in the same town. Isn't that funny? We ate at Eppie's and had a glass of wine at enoteca. Another cool shower and I was out like a light again last night. At some point I covered myself up with a pillow because I was cold. I finally woke up enough to grab heavier covers when I heard it. The gentle hum of the a/c. Life is good.
We are never so busy on the weekends- it's so nice to sit around and be lazy after a long week. The heat kicked us out of our house (we would open the windows but our screens are junk) and as a result we had a great weekend with friends. I like to think it was a lesson in patience. We've seen so many homes damaged and vehicles smashed and heard stories from people who were out during the sudden violent storm. I am also beyond grateful (I know that our guardian angels were looking out for us) that we were safe, our home was safe, and our cars were safe from fallen trees.
