So, the word is that AOL Journals is closing down as of October 31. Not sure yet how much of this journal can be moved there. They say they are going to help us move them over, but I'm not waiting to start the new one. I've started it today, played around with some of the buttons and features and I guess I'll get the hang of it eventually. So, here is the link for the new digs:
Don't forget to leave me your links so I can find everyone!
It's been a wild and windy day here in the Bluegrass State. As per our usual, we all gathered at Sarah Kate and Bennie's house for the Bengal game this afternoon. As we were driving over there I noticed that it was awfully windy for September. The main road that goes through Sarah and Bennie's community is lined on both sides with Bradford Pear Trees. Last spring we had a bad wind storm and several of those trees were torn in half. As I drove through there this afternoon I was thinking about what a shame it was that so many of those trees had been damaged and questioned the feasibility of using those to line that 2 mile strip of road. While they are absolutely beautiful when they're blooming, they are so vulnerable to wind. As I drove through them I was relieved to see that while they were waving quite a bit, they were holding up. How quickly that changed.
Within 10 minutes of reaching Sarah and Bennie's house the wind had kicked up to 60 miles an hour and looking our their back windows we saw lawn chairs, shingles, tarps, and garbage blowing everywhere. I even saw some pieces of paper and plastic blowing kite-like waaaay up in the air. Soon the power went out (which was probably a blessing at the time since the game was already dismal!). It was around 88 degrees when all this started and sunny. It remained sunny but it was so strange to see such high sustained winds. In the spring we are used to getting some pretty strong wind gusts, but this was sustained wind and it lasted for about 3 hours. We have gotten some bad weather from left over hurricanes before but I have never in my life witnessed anything like what we had today.
Bennie's Mom and Dad were there with us and one of their neighbors called to tell them that a part of their Bradford Pear tree in their front yard had split and it was lying very close to their front porch. They jumped in the car and went home to survey the damage. In the meantime we were worried that Sarah and Bennie's whole roof was going to come off. Shingles were flying everywhere. Sarah's car was damaged when shingles were blown across her hood and front fender.
We decided to come back to our house to check on things here and stopped by Bennie's parent's house on our way to see if they were ok. We could not believe our eyes when we pulled up in front of their house. The picture above and below are pictures of their house. More of the tree that their neighbor had called them about had fallen across the front of their house. Guess what kind of tree this is? You've got it, a Bradford Pear. An OLD Bradford Pear! They were really very lucky, it fell down right up next to their house and across their covered front porch but it didn't break any windows. Everything in the house was okay.
We stayed there for a little bit and then headed home dreading what we might find. Our trees were okay Being married to a nurseryman who stopped growing Bradford Pears several years ago for the very reasons mentioned above, we have Aristocrat Pears in our front yard. The back yard was a mess and my flower pots were upturned everywhere. Some huge limbs from a stand of trees across our back property line had fallen into my back flower beds. But compared to the damage we witnessed on our drive home, we have absolutely nothing to complain about. About an hour after we got home our power came back on. We are among the very lucky, most of the county is without power. Duke Energy services about 800,000 customers and over 650,000 of those customers is without power and may be for as many as 4 days. We live pretty close to the Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky International Airport (it's in Kentucky, bet you didn't know that!) and I suspect that we had our power restored quickly because we're so close to the airport. Whatever the reason, I'm grateful. (Austin will be thrilled when he wakes up tomorrow and discovers there is not school!)
I've never been on a coast experiencing a hurricane. My thoughts and prayers are with the people in Texas who are dealing with the aftermath of Ike. If all the way up here in Kentucky we can experience winds like we did today, I cannot even imagine what it must have been like down there. Mother Nature is not to be messed with.
