Hurricane Irene came by

Hurricane Irene came into my neighborhood in the dead of Saturday night, bringing torrential rain and high winds. Unable to sleep, I repeatedly peered into my backyard. In the darkness, I could discern the gigantic horse chestnut, maples, and white pines swaying like rag dolls. "Please don't break," I muttered fervently. I heard the shish, shish of the rain as it beat down relentlessly and the whoo, whoo of the roaring wind.

Sunday morning dawned bright and clear--what a contrast to the day before. No, dear Reader, these trees did not topple. They stood tall. The ground, though, was littered with big and small branches and a gazillion twigs. Mop-up operation began and continues. So far, I've collected four bags of evidence of Irene's visit. Lots more twigs and branches to bag. Mmm ... this is a multi-day operation. It did not take long for the rain water from Irene to soak into the ground because summer has been so dry. All in all, my garden suffered no real damage from Irene. In fact, it received much needed rain.

However, many people throughout the east coast suffered heavy damage and my thoughts are with them. If your car was crushed by a tree, house siding blown off, roof cratered, and beach-front house washed away, it doesn't matter what category of hurricane Irene was. So let it not be said, as some have, that it was only a category one hurricane; be thankful instead that it is nothing more than that.   

Image by NASA Goddard Photo and Video via Flickr

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