hurricane irene.

The earthquake just wasn't enough for Virginia.  Go ahead, throw in a hurricane too while you're at it.  We love these little gifts from mother nature.

Who doesn't love a little candlelight??  Grab some wine, it's time to set the mood ;)

Who am I kidding - I work for Dominion and am a huge fan of electricity.


Judi drove up from Chesapeake to stay with me during this crazy hurricane.  We may not have been the most prepared, but at least we had each other!  Hurricane Irene smashed Richmond.  She was not as bad as Hurricane Isabel from 2003, but Irene was still a little B.  My power went out around 7pm on Saturday night.  Up until then, Judi and I were constantly watching the news.  Which way is Irene headed?  When is the eye expected to be directly over Richmond?  A cute cape cod in my neighborhood was pictured on the news: a tree knocked off the top of the roof, and the entire roof was in the person's front yard.  Judi and I immediately ran upstairs and carried down two mattresses.  There was no way were going to sleep upstairs.


So there we were... me and the Jude.  We sat around the candlelight, then went to bed as soon as it got dark.  So around 8:17pm.  As I laid on the mattress trying to sleep, I could hear the wind ferociously blowing outside.  I didn't sleep well that night.  I'm not sure if it was because of the noise from the fast winds, the fact that I was sweating like a champ due to the lack of a/c, or from fear of all the damage and mess the hurricane would leave behind.  I eventually fell asleep, probably due to boredom.

 Power is out.  Wine me.

We woke up Sunday morning eager to see if Irene had done any serious damage to my new home.  Luckily, I only had a ton of debris in my yard.  No damage was done to my home or my car!  I am very, very fortunate.  Judi and I drove around Sunday (trying to find an open Starbucks) and saw tons of damage to other peoples homes; it was so heartbreaking.


Although Judi and I managed to bring the mattresses downstairs to sleep on, we struggled trying to get them back up.  So we just left them where they were.  I had to crawl beneath one to get her items out of the other room.  We attempted numerous times, and after a while the Jude said she was heading home.  As it turns out, the Jude never lost power in Chesapeake.  She drove home Sunday to a nice, air conditioned home on Sunday afternoon.

 I was so good at the army crawl in elementary school.

I was out of power Saturday night, all day Sunday, all day Monday, and the majority of Tuesday.  My power was restored on Tuesday around 4pm.  I am extremely thankful for all the Dominion crews for not only restoring my power, but for their time and energy.  I know they are working long and late shifts, and are away from their families.  They are also risking their lives - messing with electricity is no joke.  I'm so thankful that they did their job safely.  I don't want to get all cheesy on you guys, but I am truly proud, blessed, and honored to work for Dominion.

Debris in my backyard.

What else can happen in Richmond?  Earthquake, hurricane...  it's never a dull moment!  What's your hurricane story?

xo,

A