Just thought I'd let you know - It's 12:59, and we have the generator hooked up, so I thought I'd ramp up the computer and touch family and you all who have been so loving and concerned. So far here's what's happened: power went about 8 a.m, there have been signifigant rain and some gusts, - big wind, but nothing like what we thought we were going to get! No downed branches of any signifigance, roofs intact in our neighborhood. We even saw a couple with their kids walking down the street holding the ends of a sheet or something trying to catch the wind for rollerblading! Whew. We won''t keep the generator going for a real long time, just mostly tweaking the freezer.
Apparantly the hurricane has just made landfall in the Outer Banks, so we're supposed to be "in for it", but as far as we can see, this isn't much worse than some of the Nor'easters we've had. I think the people who live in lowlying areas where flooding is an issue are the ones who will feel the brunt of it all, but not from wind, from the water rising.
Youngest grownup son came over last night to bunk in with us, we're all just hanging out, making fun of the people on fox (2003 - we hook up a generator and watch news coverage of VA Beach) They seem to have found one house that's lost some siding, so they're photographing it.
Just wanted to ease your minds if you are worrying. This is supposed to continue well into the night, but if it stays like this, we are very blessed, indeed. And we have agreed that it would have been awfully hard on our dear dog, whose hips had gotten to where he couldn't stand to even urinate unaided or walk up a step to attempt it in this wind and driving rain, so I guess the timing was best. Thanks for all your caring, it means a lot.