What a Week!

Along with all the people of NJ , I sure have had one heck of a week.

Last Tuesday , the east coast experienced an earthquake. I was outside at the time walking my dog so I did not feel it but many of my neighbors and friends did. Haven't had one of that magnitude (5.8) since 1944.

On Saturday, Hurricane Irene made landfall in NJ. The first hurricane to do so in 108 years. We sheltered in our own one-year old home in Hightstown, NJ . But my husband and I were ready to evacuate if the need arose and we did prepare for it but that will be the topic of another post.

Hightstown is the geographic center of NJ. I worried about the homes of my cousin on Long Beach Island and my brother-in-law in Ocean Beach and a friend's home in Long Branch. We filled the tubs with water, had batteries for our lanterns, had bottled water, dog food for our dogs, and non-perishable food. We were pretty well prepared. We spent most of the time glued to the TV watching the Weather channel & 6 ABC from Philly. I tried to sleep but when the power went out for the third time with a loud bang from a transformer blowing across the street , I realized there would be no sleep for me that night.

At 2:40 am the TV announcer said a tornado warning was in effect for my town from 2:45 to 3:15am. Since we don't have a basement,my husband and I along with our two dogs moved into our walk in closet in the center of the house for the next half-hour. The wind roared a few times as we listened to 101.5 on the battery powered radio. Thank goodness a tornado did not materialize. This half-hour sure helped me understand what my daughter and her husband experience every time their weather radio announces a tornado warning in their area of Kansas.

On Sunday morning we still had power, cable, phone and internet, but our combo oven/microwave was not working. We were and still are unable to use our water - for drinking, washing, bathing or even flushing our toilets but overall we were in good shape. The water issue was caused by our downtown area being under water and the water treatment plant being submerged . As you can see from the photo above, even the Weather Channel chose a photo of our town to use on its home page for a time yesterday. Many roads in our area were flooded and train service was cancelled.

Today there is not a cloud in the sky and the sun is shining brightly as the clean-up begins around the state. Hopefully the property of family and friends are ok.

Over the past few days ,I worried about the pond rising so much that our home would be flooded. I worried about loosing power and of having windows break due to high winds. But for the last few days what I did not worry about was cancer.

Dee

Every Day is a Blessing!