hummingwolf (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
hummingwolf) wrote2003-09-25 09:32 pm
hummingwolf) wrote2003-09-25 09:32 pm
Entry tags:
What I Did On My Isabel Vacation, by Hummingwolf
I kept meaning to write a detailed post about life in the path of Hurricane Tropical Storm Isabel, but nah. Here instead is a collection of mostly-unpolished notes I scribbled down while the power was out.
Thursday:
The storm feels amazing. All day long I had to keep going to a doorway, standing and breathing in the air, feeling the wind, seeing the sky. No big crashes of thunder and lightning, just wind humming along the land, along the skin, along the spine. A housemate's friend who lives on campus was told that he had to go down to the basement, but he decided he & the housemate had to go to a bar instead. I can understand the urge. In between trips half-in, half-outside, watched storm progress on TV. Isabel down to Level 2 Hurricane, then Level 1? DC's mayor on television said you almost have to feel sorry for Isabel, she's been downgraded so much. Parts of the area were passed over by the bands of the storm so they're barely touched. More of the area was hit by flooding (not a problem in our house on a hill), winds, power outages. The news at one point said that half of all people in Virginia were without electricity. Thought we might make it through the night without becoming a statistic, but at ten before midnight, the transformer hummed its last.
Got out my flashlight with its freshly installed batteries, helped a housemate find a big candle to light. Went to back door to look out at the darkened woods. Lights off to the right--just a neighbor with a flashlight, looking around. Lights off to the left--whoa. Um. Okay, it's too wet for anything to catch fire, right? So those sparks and puffs and fireballs shouldn't worry me, right? So said half of my brain. The other half said "Fire! Near my home! Fire! Near my home!" So finally called 911 and explained relatively calmly that the power line was trying to set the trees on fire. Fire truck came a few minutes later, and the nice young fireman agreed with the calm half of my brain, told me it was nothing to worry about, it was too wet for anything to catch fire for long, and as long as the lines were still strung up all they'd do was call the power company and report the problem. That night, he said, they'd gotten 15 similar calls from throughout our suburb.
Standing on the back balcony watching sparks fly like July the fourth, it didn't matter to me that anything in the yard would be too wet to catch fire. When I saw in one place on the ground sparks that would not burn out, I had to go down to see. I arrived at the spot, saw a spark, stomped on it. The spark still glowed. Turning on the flashlight, I discovered that I'd just killed an innocent glowing bug.
Friday: Fried some chicken and onions for breakfast so as to use up the flesh food before malicious microbes take over. Newly vegan housemate points out that while the chicken may not kill me yet, somebody had to kill the chicken. Vegan also comments on another housemate's snacking on "cow pus," a.k.a. string cheese. Other housemate responds with unladylike epithets. Wackiness ensues.
Housemates went out driving. Lunch was served when they returned with vegan sandwiches. The V.L.T. was quite tasty.
Later on, called Ms.![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
daisydumont to learn how she weathered the storm. For once, she has power while we don't. Glad to learn that danalog was not carried away by the floods.
Wanted to walk around the neighborhood to see what could be seen, but also wanted to read while it was still light. Did read for a while, finally walked in late afternoon after the last of the rains. Even as a pedestrian, had to take a large detour around one section of road. Got back to the street before cars were allowed, saw power lines strung along the ground. Went round in another direction, saw that one drug store had power & plenty of folks looking for batteries, flashlights (good luck!), and candles. The store did have scented candles, but with a chemical smell that would have quickly given me a headache. Remembered that shopping mall--which had power--also had a hallmark store, so I dodged crazed teenage drivers in order to get there. Front of the store had new Yankee Candle Company scents at 25% off. Back of the store had some old Yankee Candle Company products at 75% off. Score! Bought a big hazelnut coffee-scented candle, normally $20, for a mere $5. After smelling that, also had to buy a hazelnut Lindt truffle.
Supper for me was more chicken with onions and toast. Still need to work on my bread-frying skills. Banana for dessert. Spent most of the evening reading by candlelight. Also calledunwilly on the phone and got to talk to Li'l Un for the first time.
Un: How does your neighborhood look?
Me: Dark.
Un, sighing: I suppose it's my fault for asking the question that way.
Saturday:
Judged that chicken had gotten too warm to be safe, trashed it. Backup breakfast of toast & peanut butter with dried cranberries for dessert.
In the day's big news story, the hippie housemate shaves her legs and pits for the first time in ten years.
I did laundry before the storm, but forgot to do one rather important load. So it looks like I'll be wearing some blouses that don't ordinarily see the light of day. Also, I have too few bras that fit even in the best of times; what bras do fit are not, at the moment, the clean ones. Oh there is one bra supposedly in my size, but it is sadly unwearable. Apparently a woman with my chest measurements is supposed to be taller and more broad-shouldered. I do not understand why the straps are so very wide and thick: a C cup does not hold that heavy a load.
Finally got hold of my aunt on the phone. She's also been without power since Thursday.
Took a walk down to the thrift store. Reminded once again why I never wear this synthetic-fabric bra, which is a particularly bad idea on a warm day underneath a black T-shirt. Bought a loose pair of jeans (not new condition, but much better than the ones I'm wearing) and a paperback book I've already forgotten the name of. All the while I'm in the store, the radio was playing some AM talk show where the only words I recognize are "salaam" and "shari'a."
Grocery store just got power back a few hours ago. Bought some more canned foods for the heck of it, amused by the barricades around the frozen food section. More than a few people lost a lot of money because of this storm. It's frustrating to walk home and see so many places along the way with their lights on, then coming back to a darkened house.
Housemates are having a party tonight! And I'm not invited because I don't own high-heeled shoes. Hmph. Well, they're trying to be elegant , and I never was any good at elegance. They've done good things with the living room, though, moving furniture into better places and putting up paintings and prints on the walls. Vanilla-scented candles everywhere, which would give the landlady fits if she knew, what with her constant worries that the tenants will burn down the house while the power's out.
Thursday:
The storm feels amazing. All day long I had to keep going to a doorway, standing and breathing in the air, feeling the wind, seeing the sky. No big crashes of thunder and lightning, just wind humming along the land, along the skin, along the spine. A housemate's friend who lives on campus was told that he had to go down to the basement, but he decided he & the housemate had to go to a bar instead. I can understand the urge. In between trips half-in, half-outside, watched storm progress on TV. Isabel down to Level 2 Hurricane, then Level 1? DC's mayor on television said you almost have to feel sorry for Isabel, she's been downgraded so much. Parts of the area were passed over by the bands of the storm so they're barely touched. More of the area was hit by flooding (not a problem in our house on a hill), winds, power outages. The news at one point said that half of all people in Virginia were without electricity. Thought we might make it through the night without becoming a statistic, but at ten before midnight, the transformer hummed its last.
Got out my flashlight with its freshly installed batteries, helped a housemate find a big candle to light. Went to back door to look out at the darkened woods. Lights off to the right--just a neighbor with a flashlight, looking around. Lights off to the left--whoa. Um. Okay, it's too wet for anything to catch fire, right? So those sparks and puffs and fireballs shouldn't worry me, right? So said half of my brain. The other half said "Fire! Near my home! Fire! Near my home!" So finally called 911 and explained relatively calmly that the power line was trying to set the trees on fire. Fire truck came a few minutes later, and the nice young fireman agreed with the calm half of my brain, told me it was nothing to worry about, it was too wet for anything to catch fire for long, and as long as the lines were still strung up all they'd do was call the power company and report the problem. That night, he said, they'd gotten 15 similar calls from throughout our suburb.
Standing on the back balcony watching sparks fly like July the fourth, it didn't matter to me that anything in the yard would be too wet to catch fire. When I saw in one place on the ground sparks that would not burn out, I had to go down to see. I arrived at the spot, saw a spark, stomped on it. The spark still glowed. Turning on the flashlight, I discovered that I'd just killed an innocent glowing bug.
Friday: Fried some chicken and onions for breakfast so as to use up the flesh food before malicious microbes take over. Newly vegan housemate points out that while the chicken may not kill me yet, somebody had to kill the chicken. Vegan also comments on another housemate's snacking on "cow pus," a.k.a. string cheese. Other housemate responds with unladylike epithets. Wackiness ensues.
Housemates went out driving. Lunch was served when they returned with vegan sandwiches. The V.L.T. was quite tasty.
Later on, called Ms.
daisydumont to learn how she weathered the storm. For once, she has power while we don't. Glad to learn that danalog was not carried away by the floods.Wanted to walk around the neighborhood to see what could be seen, but also wanted to read while it was still light. Did read for a while, finally walked in late afternoon after the last of the rains. Even as a pedestrian, had to take a large detour around one section of road. Got back to the street before cars were allowed, saw power lines strung along the ground. Went round in another direction, saw that one drug store had power & plenty of folks looking for batteries, flashlights (good luck!), and candles. The store did have scented candles, but with a chemical smell that would have quickly given me a headache. Remembered that shopping mall--which had power--also had a hallmark store, so I dodged crazed teenage drivers in order to get there. Front of the store had new Yankee Candle Company scents at 25% off. Back of the store had some old Yankee Candle Company products at 75% off. Score! Bought a big hazelnut coffee-scented candle, normally $20, for a mere $5. After smelling that, also had to buy a hazelnut Lindt truffle.
Supper for me was more chicken with onions and toast. Still need to work on my bread-frying skills. Banana for dessert. Spent most of the evening reading by candlelight. Also called
unwilly on the phone and got to talk to Li'l Un for the first time.Un: How does your neighborhood look?
Me: Dark.
Un, sighing: I suppose it's my fault for asking the question that way.
Saturday:
Judged that chicken had gotten too warm to be safe, trashed it. Backup breakfast of toast & peanut butter with dried cranberries for dessert.
In the day's big news story, the hippie housemate shaves her legs and pits for the first time in ten years.
I did laundry before the storm, but forgot to do one rather important load. So it looks like I'll be wearing some blouses that don't ordinarily see the light of day. Also, I have too few bras that fit even in the best of times; what bras do fit are not, at the moment, the clean ones. Oh there is one bra supposedly in my size, but it is sadly unwearable. Apparently a woman with my chest measurements is supposed to be taller and more broad-shouldered. I do not understand why the straps are so very wide and thick: a C cup does not hold that heavy a load.
Finally got hold of my aunt on the phone. She's also been without power since Thursday.
Took a walk down to the thrift store. Reminded once again why I never wear this synthetic-fabric bra, which is a particularly bad idea on a warm day underneath a black T-shirt. Bought a loose pair of jeans (not new condition, but much better than the ones I'm wearing) and a paperback book I've already forgotten the name of. All the while I'm in the store, the radio was playing some AM talk show where the only words I recognize are "salaam" and "shari'a."
Grocery store just got power back a few hours ago. Bought some more canned foods for the heck of it, amused by the barricades around the frozen food section. More than a few people lost a lot of money because of this storm. It's frustrating to walk home and see so many places along the way with their lights on, then coming back to a darkened house.
Housemates are having a party tonight! And I'm not invited because I don't own high-heeled shoes. Hmph. Well, they're trying to be elegant , and I never was any good at elegance. They've done good things with the living room, though, moving furniture into better places and putting up paintings and prints on the walls. Vanilla-scented candles everywhere, which would give the landlady fits if she knew, what with her constant worries that the tenants will burn down the house while the power's out.