How the Mighty Have Fallen

In the past I may have complained a time or two about the "leaving" process when it comes to the farmhouse or the cottage.  There is the inevitable cleaning of the fridge, which I hate!  There is the sadness I feel when my flower boxes get shut in the dark garage for the winter.  There is the never ending list of tasks we must do to leave the house and the property safe and sound for the "off season".  This year there was an added a level of difficulty because tossing out seven bottles of salad dressing and countless odds and ends is way too easy.  Our added challenge came in the form of a hurricane named Dorian.

Friday, September 6, 2019
All is calm and beautiful!

We were good little hurricane veterans and prepared in spite of the deceiving blue skies.  We took in all of the outdoor furniture and potted plants from the cottages and the farmhouse.  We tacked down anything that could fly and become a projectile.  We filled many jugs with drinking water and made sure we had batteries in our flashlights.  We moved our grill to the back deck out of the projected wind direction.  It was Friday, Sept. 6 and Hurricane Dorian was scheduled to arrive in our little corner of the world the next day.  It was hard to believe how drastically things would change in one day.

With everything safely tucked away we woke up Saturday morning to a breezy, cloudy day.  We decided to see if the nearby farmer's market was open.  Only 3 vendors braved the windy morning so we bought a lovely heirloom tomato and some lettuce, because sadly ours is done.  On the way home we stopped at the fish market and bought a cooked lobster to make lobster rolls for lunch.  We also went across the street for some hurricane chips because what are hurricane provisions without some junk food?  We got home, made lunch and found a way to stream ESPN Game Day!  We were pretty proud of ourselves as we waited for Dorian.  And the wind continued to blow.

Bring it on Dorian, we have a lobster and some chips!

We sat and watched Game Day streaming from Austin where LSU and UT were playing later that day.  We had big plans to hunker down inside and watch the big game that night.  Perfect way to pass the time while Dorian blew through.  The wind continued to pick up but all was still good....until 3 p.m. when blip, blip, blip and then silence.  No power.  UH OH!  Dorian threw a flag on our perfectly planned afternoon!

As I looked at the storm through my kitchen window I noticed one thing we had forgotten to take inside.  My favorite whirly gig was about to take flight.  I asked TJ to go out and take it down before it blew away.  He put on a hoodie and raincoat and headed out into the storm.  We were bored and having a bit of fun when I decided to video the rescue.  I did my best reporting, "This is Scotia Woman reporting live from the Lorneville weather channel in the midst of hurricane Dorian."  I was Marlin Perkins to his Jim Fowler.  "While Jim faces the gusting wind and flying tree branches, I'll stand behind the house out of the wind and document his brave rescue of the whirly gig."

We were cracking ourselves up!  He did the perfect acting job.  I mean it was windy...but not that windy.  I think we may have pissed Dorian off.

We decided to go and check on my parents who were still at their cottage.  As we approached their cottage this is what we saw.

A tree behind their cottage had fallen on the electrical wires.

That explains the power outage.  We had to park at my sister's cottage since we were not sure we could safely drive under the wires into my parent's driveway.  By now it was raining and the winds were blowing hard... just like a hurricane.  We ran across the flooded yards and into my parents cottage.  It was still a bit warm inside but dark and eerie.  My Mom was in the process of packing up for their trip back home in a couple of days.  It is a long process only made longer and more challenging by a wheelchair bound husband and now...no power and the sound of the unrelenting winds and rain beating against your cottage.  She was a bit frazzled, as was I by this time.  There was no way we could move them out of the cottage in this weather.  We could barely stay upright just running across the yard.  Moving a man in a wheelchair was not an option.  They had to stay the night.  We made sure they had water, food, flashlights, blankets and a plan.   We left feeling very guilty that we had a wood stove to keep warm for the night.  They were going to be very cold!  Not a good feeling.

My stylish rubber boots came in very handy here!

There are not that many of us left here which turned out to be a good thing!  There were enough people that no one felt isolated but not too many who were inconvenienced.  The storm continued. We discovered our friends were going to spend the night across the road at my-cousin-who-has-a-generator's house.  We joined them for a couple of hours.  Not really a "hurricane party", more of a wine drinking, listen to that wind, look at those trees, are those the deck chairs sliding across the deck?  Party.

We also enjoyed their running water/flushing toilet.  What you may not realize is that when you live in a house with a well and a pump and the power goes out, the pump cannot run...so no water.  No water, no shower, no flushing toilet, no hand washing, no fun.  You can flush the toilet by pouring water into the tank and then flushing, but we only had so much water.  We were very conservative!

It was time to go back to the farmhouse for the night.  TJ and I had decided earlier in the day to spend the night in one of the back bedrooms of the house.  The wind was coming from the north and our bedroom is under some very large trees on the north side of the house.  It seemed safer to be in the back.  We drove up to the house and TJ saw our chestnut tree practically bending over backwards in the wind and told me to wait in the car while he checked around the house.  He was gone for a while and when he got back in the car he had a stunned look on his face.  He said, "You have got to come see this."

2 of our 3 GIANT poplar trees had been uprooted.

We went inside to see if there were holes in the roof but we could not find any...in the dark of night.  The magnitude of the trees was overwhelming.  They are not just big trees, they are huge trees!  How they missed our house is a miracle!  There are a few branches resting on the roof but it could have been devastating! We went to bed and continued to listen to the howling wind and rain.  I have no idea how I slept so well, but I did.  I guess with the trees down, I did not have to worry about them falling.

The irony of our video is not lost on me.  Where we earlier in the day had been laughing and joking was now covered with a tree.  Dorian did not have a sense of humor, only revenge.

Taken from the exact spot I filmed the video the day before.
YIKES!

Before Dorian, our lovely trees.

Thanks to Dorian, the mighty have fallen.

In the light of day things looked very scary!  We were SO lucky!  It will still be a herculean task to cut down those 3 trees, then cut them into small enough chunks to be taken away....somewhere.  What do we do?  Our insurance company is working on it but with so many other people in the same boat, we are just a number.  We are hoping for a plan of action before we have to leave on the 16th.  The power was out for three days.  I am thankful for my pack rat of a husband who never throws anything away.  He dug up an old propane stove out of the basement to make coffee and tea in the morning and warm up food for lunch.  Having a wood stove helped keep us warm.  Hurricanes in the south are usually warm weather events.  This one was not!  My poor parents woke up to a 50 degree cottage the next day.  It did not take much persuading to convince them they needed to get on the road the next day and stay in a hotel for the night.

Who knew that candle lantern made such cool shadows?

As close as I will get to camping!

My pioneer husband keeping my tea water hot
and my cinnamon roll warm!

With Mom and Dad safely on the road home, TJ and I continued to pack up the house for our departure plus deal with the fallen trees and many missing shingles and leaks on the cottage roof.  Thanks Dorian!  Maybe we were getting a little too high and mighty ourselves. 

Mixed Emotions

Days like today make me wish I could stay here forever!  The air is clean and crisp, the sky is cerulean blue with a few wispy clouds, the tide was out at the perfect time of day (late morning to early afternoon) which made for the perfect walk on the sandbars and I had enough to do to keep me busy but not too much that I was stressed or exhausted.  This would be the day I would like to put in a bottle and take home with me and take out when I need some cool, fresh, beautiful air!  I will probably also want to take this day out of my secret bottle on Saturday when Hurricane Dorian is scheduled to arrive up here.

The perfect sandbar day!

 The season is coming to an end and it is with a bit of sadness that I will say goodbye to another summer at Amherst Shore.  How does the summer fly by so quickly?  A question for the ages.  As I mowed the lawns at the cottages this afternoon I noted how much I prefer September mowing to June mowing.  In June the ground is soft and sometimes muddy.  The grass is new and wet which means it clumps up and looks almost worse after it gets mowed than before.  Today the grass was dry and blew away as soon as it shot out of the mower.  The ground was firm and I left no ruts with the wheels as I sped along!  It made me think how many other things are almost better later in the summer and if only we could all be here together to enjoy them.  No mosquitoes, no black flies, mass quantities of produce in our garden and plenty of time to enjoy everything.  Oh wait, I guess if everyone was here now, I would not have all this time...never mind.  I do miss them though.

Today was special in many ways. Aside from mowing!  The amazing blue skies have given me a new passion for my camera.  I have taken to driving around and finding old barns to take pictures of and hidden treasures along the roads.  This place is full of them, they are around every turn in the road.  Today was no different.  TJ sent me up a road he cycles regularly and I did find a few treasures.

The sky is so big here!

Maybe a few repairs are needed...

Risked getting hit by a dump truck for this one...
worth it!

After the walk, the drive, and lunch I went over to my parent's cottage.  My parents are here, by the grace of God, for another summer.  None of us thought they would make the trip this year, but they are very determined!  There is something about this place that makes all of us do crazy things.  We will get here come hell or high water.  They are in their last week here and Dad needed a haircut.  I was called to duty.  Now I am no professional, not even close, but for some reason they trust me to cut Dad's hair..and beard.  Maybe decision making is one of the first things to go when you get older.  I am not sure how close you are or were to your father but cutting your Dad's hair and beard is an intimate experience, at least it is for me.  Tonight, after the fact, I sat and thought about it and remembered that 9 year old Lisa wanted to be a hairdresser.  I wondered if those hours spent watching my mother get her hair done at the beauty school and teaching myself to cut hair was training me for this moment.  Today was the second time I have cut my father's hair in the last year and it has "gotten" to me both times.  Not sure how he feels about it all, but to me it is such a personal and intimate experience.  One I am sure I will treasure forever.   Yeah, it was a good day.

TJ and I went out to dinner, a rare occasion up here.  I had my annual fried clam dinner with a coconut cream pie chaser.  More calories than I need in a week!  It was so worth it!  Ok, I'll go for a run tomorrow.  We delivered take-out to Mom and Dad and raced home in time to see an epic sunset.  I have my priorities.  The sunset went on forever!  It started at 7:45 and the sky was still pink at 9:30!  On the sunset scale this one was close to a 10!  I really should make a sunset rating scale.. how long did it last, color, cloud quality, variety of colors, how much of the sky lit up, etc.  We sat and watched  until we were both too chilly and had to go in for warmer clothes.  I pinch myself when this happens...in September!  Never in my real life would I need warmer clothes in September or witness such a beautiful sky!

Panoramic sunset!

As if the whole day wasn't perfect enough, the whipped cream on top of the coconut cream pie was the bonfire to finish the night.  My husband loves bonfires.  I like them if the conditions are perfect. Meaning, the wind is not blowing the smoke into my face, there are no mosquitoes, it is cool enough to warrant a fire, I am in the right mood, I did not just wash my hair, I have no big plans tomorrow, and I just watched the perfect sunset.  OK, so maybe I am a little picky about bonfires.  Anyway, we had a good one tonight!  Icing on the cake, whipped cream on the pie.

Snap, crackle and pop!

The point of this is, it will all be over in a little more than a week.  The fresh air, the cerulean blue skies, the walks on the sandbars, the photo ops around every corner, the beautiful sunsets, my parents being here for what may be their last time, Thursday night bonfires, riding around on a lawnmower for hours, spending time with friends and family EVERY day, hearing the quiet, appreciating simplicity, walking or running along the shore road in the "air-conditioning", filling the vases in my house with colorful fresh flowers every week, sitting in my sun room any time of day, being able to go out the back door and harvest deliciously fresh produce out of the garden, and so many other things that make this place the most special place in my world.  So, it is with mixed emotions I was able to enjoy one of the (many) best days of the summer.