Irene and the Earthquake

Hi! I'm writing this from my 'cave' as Ed calls it...my half of the air mattress.  Since my computer has to be plugged in to turn on, I am limited to the 6 foot area around the outlet for all of my online activities.  In the past few days, I have read Pride & Prejudice on my itouch,  then watched the 5-part mini series from 1980 on Netflix. I also read the FarmChicks Christmas book. On top of all of that, I have watched all of Samantha Who? and most of Drop Dead Diva over the past 3 weeks. By the end of the month, I will have filled my TV watching quota for an entire year.  I need to stop because I have had the worst headache the past 2 days which Ed attributes to watching tv on a computer screen...so I am switching to my blog. That's better right?   Maybe I should have updated it sooner as DC has been a happening place.


On Tuesday, Scout and I were on our 'midday walk' around the neighborhood when I experienced what I thought was the most intense case of vertigo ever.  One minute, I was watching Scout thoroughly inspect a tree, the next minute, I felt like I was going to fall.  When I looked up and saw the windows in the courthouse/jail violently shaking, I realized that it wasn't just me.  In the minutes following the quake,  people began streaming out of all the office and apartment buildings.  One guy ran up to me with wide, crazy eyes and asked if "i had felt that".  They thought their building was going to collapse.  I guess being in a building during an earthquake is scarier than standing on the ground next to a tree.   Thankfully, no one was injured, though the Washington Monument had cracks near the top and some spires were broken off the National Cathedral. 

that can't be good....

Now, Irene is on its way past the mid-Atlantic.  So far, we have just had rain and gusts of wind but nothing serious yet.  The most unfortunate thing for me is that I bought rain boots at the end of april and waited all summer for a good rain to arrive so that I could really use them.  Now, the rain is here and my boots are gone.   Scout has been able to use his new rain poncho though and he isn't as big of a fan of it as I am :)  Look how cute he is while wearing it!!  He's Little Red Riding Hood!  It also keeps him slightly dryer than if he had nothing at all on--though his legs and belly still get wet from the grass.  You can see the rain coat here if your interested :)  Now, if I could just get him to wear some rain boots......

big bad wolf?

His ears and face still got wet because the wind kept blowing the hood back.

Irene update:  since I didn't post this yesterday, I will add that the power flickered a few times in the middle of the night and a few trees were broken by the wind but that was all that happened in our immediate area