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Hurricane Hanna

Well, we made it through tropical storm Hanna (it wasn't a hurricane by the time it got to us) . I don't even think the power went out. There were 10-20 knot winds this morning, along with driving heavy rain, but it wasn't dangerous so we went out onto the porch to eat breakfast.

Amanda wasn't sure about being out there in the storm (she also thought it was a bit cold) but she eventually agreed to stay out there. She needed some comfort hugs every once in a while. Every time Luke heard the wind roar he would yell loudly, imitating the wind, we think. He liked it pretty well. I think Eleanor was convinced it would be much much worse, and she had trouble getting hold of the idea that it wasn't so bad. She said that she had watched "a tree branch swinging in the wind like a chandelier." She thought she had stayed up all night...I think she was probably asleep.

It does not compare to Hurricane Fran, which drove right up the highway to the triangle in 1996. I was in graduate school, and the night before had baked bread, ran the dishwasher and done the laundry. We lived in a basement apartment (but well above the creek below...) so we slept right through it. We woke up and looked outside---not too bad we thought. Then we walked up the street. There was a tree through the roof of an apartment, a tree on a camper, trees blocking the street... I think that over 50 big trees were knocked down on campus, including a few that had 3 foot diameters...

Two great parts of that storm stand out. First, sharing a woman's Omaha steaks from her freezer with our fresh baked bread, salad and a bottle of red wine. We ate outside, since the electricity wasn't on yet (wouldn't come back for 4 days or so, along with drinkable water). Second, driving down to a friend's beach cabin to make sure everything was alright there. They did not have a luxury beach house: they just had the sub floor, they had rocks on the roof instead of shingles, everything in there had been found at the side of the road or donated by friends. We swept up the sand, dried out the rugs, emptied the water from the pots inside of the kitchen cabinets(!) and everything was as good as new. Plus, they had electricity and water =)

I also had my first asthma attack (probably related to all the decaying foliage and mold), and my first sprained ankle (I sprained it going down the stairs: the hurricane meant that I couldn't take the bus home since there were still trees across the bus rout, Michael was working till 11 in those days, and we only had one car. Not fun). Even though it seemed like we made a lot of preparations for not a big deal, I am grateful that we didn't have another Fran or Floyd on our hands.

So, Dave, did you get Hanna where you live?

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