One Long Week in Delaware

Today is Saturday and here I am at the computer trying to pass some time. I would really like to be out and about right now but the weather is prohibiting that. We are in the midst of Hurricane Irene.  The full force of the storm has not hit but it has been storming all day and will continue through the night. There are also tornado warnings for the area. Those little devils are spawned by the big storm.

The week started with a storm on Sunday. That was OK since we needed the rain.  I woke Monday to a beautiful day. I had an appointment in Baltimore and was glad the sun was shining. It makes for a much more pleasant drive across the Chesapeake Bay. When I crossed the bridge the water did not match the clear beauty of the sky. The water was gray and choppy, remains from the storms of the weekend. Unlike some Mondays of travel west of here, this one was pretty good as the traffic was heavy by moved smoothly. This was basically a very nice day.

Then, there was Tuesday. I was sitting at the computer working on a project when I felt movement. I immediately thought it was an earthquake but poo-pooed that because we are in Delaware. The chair rolled a bit and the table behind me swayed and creaked. I looked out expecting to see the trees bending in the wind.  No such luck, not a whisper of a breeze. And, nothing had hit the house. I have felt numerous earthquakes in my life but this one created the most movement for me. This one left me nonplussed.

Wednesday was just an average but nice day. Thursday was laundry day. Bill came home from lunch so I could have the car and while he was finishing his lunch, I fell in the utility room. Cripe! I getting too old for this. I bruised my knee, my hand, my upper lip, forehead and eye. My glasses broke. We drove over to Georgetown to have the glasses repaired. Fortunately, because of the kind of glasses these are, the fix was easy. My face on the other hand is still showing the signs of the fall. The space between my lip and nose is dark enough from the bruise it looks like I smudged ink across it. I have a partial black eye that is also swollen. All this happened because I decided to do the laundry on Thursday instead of waiting for the weekend because of the impending hurricane.

Thursday night Bill got a call informing him that the brewery would be closed on Friday because of approaching hurricane. Earlier in the evening he had done some grocery shopping.  He was gone almost two hours for what normally would be a 30 minute trip. Anywhere there was a store (there are not many in Milton) it was packed. He was able to get almost everything we needed except extra batteries. He was also able to fill the car with gas after waiting in line for quite some time. There are only two places in Milton to get gas.

We both woke up very early yesterday and as the temperature stayed around 82 we busied ourselves getting more prepared for the storm. It felt like we were getting ready to be snowed in for a few days. Having never been through a hurricane before we were not quite sure what to do or what to expect.

Today started with the newspaper arriving with today's date but included all of the Sunday extras, Life section, funnies, magazine section, coupons and advertising. That was strange but I thought it was probably a very good idea. Since completing the paper and other morning tasks, we have managed to make sure we have plenty of flashlights, candles (looks like Christmas), and water in the bathtubs. It has been raining for hours now and the wind is blowing hard but not as hard as it is expected to do in a few hours. But, we are safe and comfortable.

There are nine more hours in this strange week. I will be glad for tomorrow to come -- a new day, a new week.