Fall On Me

Hurricane, I mean Tropical Storm Irene has come and gone and we made out about as well as we could have hoped. For us, located right on the coast, it was a lot of wind and rain but no flooded basement and no damage to the house. Others weren't so lucky, especially in western Mass. and New York and New Jersey. One of the families we vacationed with in Florida last week saw their house flooded, not just the basement but the first floor as well, because of overflowing river banks and a burst dam. Their house may be a lost cause. Absolutely devastating.

As for us, I spent most of the day hanging by the computer and watching out the window as a huge 40+ foot high tree in front of our neighbor's house swayed back and forth in the wind. It was leaning over the street and I was convinced it would fall, possibly hitting the house across the street and a vehicle parked in the driveway. But nothing happened, the winds died down and we sat down to dinner. We were just finishing up when we heard a loud crack and a BOOM! We ran to the window and sure enough, the damn tree fell. Actually, it was the heavier part of the tree's branches; the main trunk and skinnier branch is still standing. Amazingly, the tree managed to miss the parked car by inches and hit nothing but street. I was so excited, I ran outside barefoot to document the carnage. As I type this, a removal crew is finishing the cleanup, but here's some shots of the fallen tree.

Soak the Sin

I've always been a big believer in the phrase "timing is everything." Had we been on vacation this week instead of last, we would have been driving home in the middle of Hurricane Irene and probably sitting in horrendous traffic to boot. So instead we're here at home, just waiting for the beeyatch to arrive. At this writing on Saturday afternoon, it's raining steadily here. The winds and real nasty stuff is supposed to arrive overnight or tomorrow morning.

Of course, the media's going into overdrive on this one, although the forecasts have admittedly been calling for a massive storm to hit the East Coast. It's making its way through the Carolinas right now. As we all know, these storms can change direction fairly quickly. We could get slammed, we could just get some rain and wind.

We've had some nasty storms whip through here in the past. In September 1985, I had just started my freshman year at UNH when Hurricane Gloria paid a visit. It was a Category 1 hurricane and the worst to hit the area in 25 years. In my dorm, we had to tape "X"'s on our windows and were told that we had to huddle in one wing of the dorm without windows during the height of the storm. I ended up going over to the all-girls dorm across the quad to hang out with a friend of mine from high school (and all of her cute friends). As it turned out, we got some high winds and rain, but no damage to speak of.

Hurricane Bob in August 1991 was much worse in terms of damage. I was a reporter for the Peabody Times and drove around during the storm, witnessing fallen power lines and the like. The so-called Perfect Storm that October did even more damage locally, killing the crew of the Andrea Gail off the coast of Gloucester (as documented in the crappy George Clooney movie) but also ripping up trees and blasting the hell out of the coastline.

We tend to get hurricanes after they've already expended most of their energy on the southern part of the East Coast. With any luck, we'll just get a little wet and wild around here tomorrow. In New York City, they're not taking any chances. The storm is being predicted to slam the city, so they've already shut down all mass transit, canceled ballgames, evacuated folks and are prepared for whatever apocalyptic hellscape may transpire. Here, we're just chilling and hoping the power doesn't go out.

This Ain't No Picnic

Well, we're just about into September, which is a month I quite enjoy. The weather is still rather beautiful around here. Unlike last weekend, I was able to get a good long run in yesterday. Headed out a little after 6:30 and ran 20 miles in cloudy, drizzly weather. Just as I wrapped it up, the sun started coming out. It was nice to get that out of the way, especially before things started warming up.



No big plans for the long weekend. Things will get crazy the next few weeks as the girls go back to school, albeit in new schools: Hannah will be going to first grade in a new elementary school (because the old one closed) on Wednesday and Lily will start her final year of preschool in Beverly (previously she went in Malden). The girls are looking forward to their new adventures, but I'm sure they're a little nervous, too.



Assorted talking points:

• It was a crazy week for politics. The Democrats made a big splash at their convention, but then on Friday, McCain announced a running mate choice seemingly out of left field: Alaska governor Sarah Palin. I actually had heard of her, having read some posts on Gawker about her relative hotness as a governor. So his potential VP has less than two years' in office as a governor, and before that, her sole political experience was as a mayor of a small Alaskan town. WTF? I guess there goes his arguments about Obama not having enough experience. Hey, you've got to give her credit for accomplishing what she has, but does that qualify her to be a heartbeat away from the presidency? At 72, McCain would be the oldest man to be elected president, and he isn't exactly in the best of health. It seems like a calculated move to attract women voters, especially those disaffected Hillary supporters who are still pissed off about Obama getting the nomination. Of course, she's a pretty hard core conservative evangelical, which is playing well to that demographic. Who cares if she has no experience, she's anti-abortion and pro-gun. Should be an interesting campaign, especially if there's a VP debate between Palin and Joe Biden; he actually could come off looking like a jerk if he totally embarrasses her. As for Palin, nobody can say she doesn't know her sports, as evidenced by this 1988 clip from her days as a big-haired sportscaster.
• Looks like New Orleans is about to get slammed again, this time by Hurricane Gustav. Mayor Ray Nagin has ordered residents to evacuate. Here's hoping the storm misses the city. Those folks have been through enough.