It's good to hear Blast is OK. I was going to give him a call but apparently I never transferred his number into my new phone. frown

The power in my part of town, near 610 and 290 for those familiar with the area, is back on! I have been deeply touched by the amount of compassion and fellowship that my immediate neighbors and others have demonstrated and I think it far outweighs the reports of looters that we've heard. Total stranger-neighbors that I struck up a conversation offered to let me come take a hot shower and use their grill to cook food if I needed. It was totally non-creepy and rather uplifting.

Damage to trees is extensive, which is probably to be expected considering how long it's been since we've had a big blow or ice storm, but it was still sad to drive past so grand old trees that have been totally destroyed.

I've got a few Lessons Learned points that will be addressed next hurricane season, assuming this is the last storm we get this year. I "wisely" got a lot of ice on Thursday, by which I mean a whole two 8 lb bags, but I would have been more comfortable if I'd bought even more, and I would have been more comfortable yet if I owned, which I now do, a decent ice chest. On the other had, my refrigerator's freezer did yeoman's duty keeping what ice I did lay up and I still had a whole 8 pounds or so when the power came back on.

Above all, it has been really nice to be able to give my parents, who have given me so much over the years, an air conditioned place to sleep tonight. The icing on the cake is all the meat they brought with them, since Daddy had just received a fairly large shipment from Omaha Steaks that might have gone bad in the absence of my now-functional freezer.