After the Storm

Date: September 14
Place: My office

I am transcribing from a handwritten entry I wrote yesterday...here goes:

I am stting in front of my west fancing front window and writing with...DRUMROLL...pen and legal pad! It is September 13, 2008 and thanks to Hurricane Ike I am without power. I probably have close to three power hours left on combined computers but am hoarding that for dark time. I'm hungry but holding off on that too. It seems to me that I should use the rest of today's daylight for things that make good use of it.

Right now I have to reflect a bit. I am very, very lucky. Two houses on my block have very big oak trees on them. All I have is branches down and none of those are on my house. A neighbor told me that one of the few deaths reported so far was on the south side of my little town. If true, it is another tree on house incident, a bit ironic in view of the fact that many people came here to escape the storm.

My original thought is to talk about my feelings on being unplugged. Bottome line: I MISS MY GIZMOS! Like everyone else, I am in the dark with no expectation for relief any time soon. The big issue for me is my cell phone. To my irritation, my old iPhone car charger does not work with my new iPhone. Thus this afternoon I was out scouting for power. Nothing downtown. Nothing on campus. Discouraging! Finally I headed north for one last idea. Maybe, maybe that truck stop north of town would have power...Yesssss! The restaurant was out of food but they nicely let me plug in and charge while I bonded with truckers and stranded travelers. Truckers were worried about their loads. One lady had sheltered in town with a sister but they inded up in an argument so she left. She was cheerfully chugging coffee and reviewing her options. Me, I headed home to count my blessings. My phone is charged. I am safe and dry, and all I am facing is yard cleanup. My thoughts and prayers are with those who have lost so much.