Welcome to Isabel's Destruction!

OK,so with children named Grace Isabelle and Peter Bass, it was a little weird that three of the hurricane names for this season were Grace, Isabel and Peter. Perhaps we should've known that we were doomed....

Grace was no problem. She went and piddled around Florida and left North Carolina alone. Isabel, on the other hand, apparently decided that one of her storm namesakes needed to live up to Grace's personality, so she came a-calling in all her glory. She made landfall around Morehead City on the afternoon of September 18th.

Obviously, those folks on the coast and points east had it much worse than we did, and we didn't have it nearly as bad as we did with Fran. We had wind and a little rain on the 18th. Really not too much rain -- I think the news said it was only between 1.5 and 3 inches. The wind was pretty nasty, but as far as I know never got beyond gale force winds (30 - 50 mph). We did lose half of the maple tree in the front yard, though. Luckily it fell away from the house, and at such an angle that it didn't get into the road, either. Heck, it didn't even take out the mailbox!

We did lose power, but not until about 6:30 Thursday evening. By that time we'd already eaten dinner, so that was OK. I'd been working at home earlier, but my office lost power about 3pm, which pretty much cut me off from anything I would try to do, so I was even able to make Oatmeal Scotchies during the afternoon! Heck, with oatmeal scotchies around, we can ride out any storm!

Peter kinda liked the power outage, at least for a little bit. He thought it was funny to brush his teeth by lamplight, and of course any time he gets to avoid a bath it's a good thing. Grace was not so happy. She likes to have a little bit of light when she's going to sleep, and just doesn't comprehend the answer, "But sweetie, the power's out." Her response, in all her princess-esqe Graceness, was, "But I want the power ON!" Yes, your majesty, and will we be lopping off heads today? Anyway, we wound up putting a flashlight in her room until she dropped off, so she was happy.

Luckily, Grace's daycare was open Thursday and Friday, so she was able to do that. Peter's school was closed both days, but Meg's Dad had power so Peter spent the day with Granddaddy on Friday. With both kids taken care of, Meg and Jeff were able to actually get a full days work in, though Meg was dressed pretty casually, given that she literally got dressed in the dark. Our power came back on around 8am, but then blinked off again briefly. It was back on for good by 9am.

All in all, though a little annoying, Isabel's visit was nowhere near as destructive as it could've been.