The electric just came back on for the first time since Sunday afternoon. The news here said that the storm, with no rain, was due to the aftermath of Ike and we had sustained winds of 75 mph for over 45 minutes.
The damage was really unbelievable with some roofs gone, electric and phone poles snapped off and lines on houses, cars and the streets. Trees of all sizes and types were down everywhere. We have 1 small, 2 large and one ancient humongous tree down, but thankfully this time they all missed the house.
Businesses are open. Local schools are to start opening tomorrow. The local market lost a tremendous amount of perishables and we, like everyone else have thrown out hundreds of dollars of meat and other things that go bad without proper refrigeration. Murphy's Law applied here as I had stocked up on the excellent meat from Carfagna's ( a great Italian market that has quality meats as well) last Friday. Unfortunately I could not eat 2 months worth of beef, lamb and pork all at once, but I tried.
AEP crews and others from many neighboring states worked tireously to get the power on. We expected to have no power until Saturday or Sunday. My hat off to all those crews as well as the village crews that cut trees, cleared limbs and did so with good humor. I took a bunch of drinks and snacks to a crew working on our street yesterday and they looked absolutely exhausted, but took the time to tape a thank you note to our door as they left.
Neighbors helped neighbors, sat around with candles chatting and laughing and commiserating. This is a close community, but for the duration came together closer and is better for it.
AEP takes some grief, but they were outstanding and their workers have risen above and beyond the call of duty. Thank you.
