Let it rain, let it pour,

Let it rain a whole lot more,

'Cause I got them deep river blues.

Let the rain drive right on,

Let the waves sweep along,

'Cause I got them deep river blues.

--Doc Watson (orig. Delmore Brothers)

Ernesto was full of surprises Friday as it slammed the Eastern Shore with havoc-wreaking wind and rainfall. We were pummeled with gusts that reportedly reached a top speed of 73mph, and unconfirmed rainfall totals waver between 8 and 10 inches. The Turmanators were caught completely off-guard (odd, since Tracy is head of the Eastern Shore Disaster Planning Coalition, but you know what they say about the cobbler's children having no shoes). Normally I have potable water, non-potable water, food plans, ice, etcetera, but NOT THIS TIME.

The short people and I went about our business Friday until the power went out at 1:30pm. It was a rough afternoon, filled with play-doh, crayons, emergency stashes of toys and anything else I could think of that didn't involve going outside or needing to see each other all that well...it was dark! The real trouble began when I walked into the laundry room and stepped into a puddle; water was dripping through the ceiling air vent. I frantically checked the house and found 5 leaks, 2 of which were hitting my great-grandmother's studio grand piano! Some of the leaks were coming through the clapboard siding because the rain was horizontal in the wind.

I scrambled around for 45 minutes throwing tarps, towels and buckets on everything while simultaneously refereeing the short people and preventing the entire kitchen from being coated in a film of play-doh. By 4:00 the driveway contained a pool, some major tree limbs were down, sheets of shingles were blowing around the yard and Tracy had made it safely home after backtracking twice to avoid flooded roads and downed trees. By 6:00 the wind and rain finally subsided and we went outside to survey the damage...not too bad.

Several hours later when it became necessary to flush a toilet we discovered that our decrepit claw-footed tub had not held one drop of the water I had filled it with hours before! No spare water...'til Tracy filled a 5 gallon bucket from some of the ponds outside. We ate dinner, listened to music on the radio and tucked the girls into bed (EARLY, I might add) via old fashioned hurricane lamplight.

Yesterday left the house at 7am and spent the entire day across the Bay in Virginia Beach, arriving home at 5:30 just as the power and our phones were turning back on. Heaven! Thank you, Delmarva Power and Verizon. Thank you, modern civilization.

We seem to be mostly unscathed, minus some roofing and leaking issues. You can bet that I'll be stocked to the gills for the next little thunderstorm!

Still having photography+computer issues...I'll go back and add some later.