Patriots' Day 2007 Nor'Easter

Fly Guy was in England for the week before the storm (The storm was on April 16, 2007), he was flying into Logan and I was very nervous about how they handled a trans-Atlantic flight that was flying straight for a huge storm. Well it doesn't matter he got in just before the storm really hit Boston. He said his plane was the only one coming in or going out from the international terminal so he was able to get to customs and get through it very quickly and get the bus to Maine. He said the bus was blowing in the wind as it traveled North. He made it home around 8pm.

Fly Guy being on England time still woke up early but stayed in bed, but then he started hearing a dripping sound. So he got up and turned on the hall lights and found a leak in our ceiling in the hallway. It was about 4am with all the stuff he was doing he woke me up. He just put a towel under the leak and I went back to bed. Of course I didn't fall back to sleep worried about the leak.

I got out of bed around 6am. It was school vacation week so no huge rush to do anything. I had breakfast. Then Fly Guy went to the attic to check out the damage. I went to the basement to see what was going on there. Well the basement was begining to flood. I started some laundry in hopes that I could get all the clothes that Fly Guy brought back from England cleaned before the water really came in too high. Then I started getting things off the ground like all my Girl Scout Leader supplies and stuff like that. Fly Guy and the girls checked in on me, but they were getting buckets and stuff for the attic so I was alone dealing with the basement. Then we hear a *HUGE* explostion and the power went out. So here I am in a damp basement in the dark with water coming in quickly. Well Fly Guy was quick with coming down with candles and flashlights. I worked on finshing getting everything off the floor. I was sending the girls upstairs just to get it out of the basement.

A few years ago had a rain water back-up into our basement twice in two weeks and I was just envisioning the same thing of about a foot of water at least in the basement and losing a bunch of things. So I just wanted everything out of the basement and safe.

Well while we were doing this Fly Guy found a spot in the basement that was a pin hole and since the water presure was so high water was squirting about an inch and half to two inches out of the pin hole. I told Fly Guy that I could handle it, he should take the girls and get the special cement that can work under water. So he did that and also bought more batteries and more plastic shelving for me to put all the Girl Scout stuff on. While they were gone I was able to get everything in the basement in order.

He got back and used the cement on the hole while I put together the shelving and working on putting stuff on it. Fly Guy was able to make the water stop coming in. Which was great. Because of that our basement took on hardly any water even though all around us I heard stuff about water in everyones basement.

To be totally honest I have no idea what happened for the rest of the day. I know we went to try to take Horse Girl to her appointment with the ADHD specalist, but turns out they didn't have power at her office. Then we went to the grocery store and I bought some self heating hot chocolate. We went out to eat at a Chinese buffet the girls like a lot. We went home and played games by candle light and drank self-heating hot chocolate.

When we went to bed we put the girls both in Horse Girl's bed because we didn't know how cold it would get over night. They hated sleeping together in a twin bed, but we figured that it would just be for one night since of course we would have power back in the morning.

Well we wake up Tuesday morning. Still no power. I take the girls over to my parents house so they both could shower and I could shower. I left Horse Girl there while I took History Girl to a class in Improvasational Acting. I also swung buy and got more self heating hot chocolate. When I picked up History Girl from her class we stopped at a bakery and had hot beverages....hot chocolate for me and a Chi for her. Then we went back to my parents and got Horse Girl. I took the girls to see Meet the Robinsons.

Meet the Robinsons was a good movie. It was mostly just a warm place to hang out and since it was Tuesday we got free popcorn because I have the Regal Crown Club Card. When we got home it was just a short time until Fly Guy was expected home. We still didn't have power at out house and it was raining and cold, so we went to eat at a local Mexican resturant. It turns out many people dining at the resturant were eating out because of not having any power at home. When we got home we all went to bed. This time we put Horse Girl in her normal bed and had History Girl sleep in Horse Girl's room on a trundle bed. Horse Girl's room is the smallest room in the house (except for the bathrooms) and we just redid it so we knew it was well insulated and thought they could keep the room warm enough with just body heat.

When we woke up on Wednesday, there was still no power. I sent Fly Guy out for hot chocolates and donut holes and he headed out to work. The girls and I hung out at the house for awhile then left. We drove around and checked out the damage because it finally stopped raining....more or less...it was drizzling a bit....or it might have been just a very very heavy fog. I took a bunch of photos when we drove around.

We first took photos of the damaged transformer that was causing the power outage for us.




















Then we checked out the brook that is normally a trickle at the end of our street. It was nearly to the top of its banks.
















Then we went to Fort Williams. Fort Williams is a local park right on the ocean. I was a millitary base during WWI and my grandparents met there so it means a lot to me.

The beach area is always very rocky, but the grass area normally never has water up to it even at high tide. You can tell by the rocks and stuff on the grass that high tide was at least up to the grass if not to the parking lot. I have no idea where this orange washed up from, I just found it interesting that it just came ashore with all the other crud.





























These are sea cucumbers normally they are at the bottom of the ocean, so the fact they were washed up shows you how much the ocean was churned up during the storm.








Here are some sea stars also washed up from the storm.


Here are some lobster traps also washed up from the storm. I couldn't believe all the lobster traps that had washed up during the storm. It made me wonder how the lobster industry was going to do this year with all the damage to their equipment.


Here are some utlity poles being stored at Fort Williams until they are ready for them around town.



Here is a photo of my favorate hardware store. They were completely out of power , but they set up a generator and kept the business running because people needed stuff from them to take care of the damage to their homes and yards. To me that is just such a great thing for them to do. They put up with hardship to help the people in their community. That is what real Mainers do. I have to say I am a bit biased with regards to this hardware store I did go to school with the son of the owner. The are great people anyhow. :-)


This photo was taken in town Portland at Deering Oaks. This tree was around years old and it just fell over lifting the sod up and everything. There were a ton of trees down all over Deering Oaks. Deering Oaks is a place that Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote about in his poem "My Lost Youth". I am proud of Portland, even though they lost all of these trees in Deering Oaks they are not wasting the trees. They are saving them and building things like benches and the like for the park. So yes the park will be missing many great trees, but they are becoming other things that people can use in the park.



After driving around checking out damage we went to the Children Museum of Maine. It was crowded but the girls had a great time. When we left I bought them some paper dolls figuring that if we continue without power then they could play with the dolls for awhile.

At noontime we headed over to McDonald's playplace for lunch so the girls ran around and took bites of lunch between the running around. On a side note....I am suprised how many parents at the playplace get angry about their kids playing at McDonald's more then eating. In my mind the food there is not health food by any streach of the imagination, so if they rather get some excersize by running around then eat. I am all for it because the excersize is so much better for them then the food. Though it seems my view isn't held by many.

After that we took Horse Girl to her annual physical. She is 100% healthy. Her Doctor agrees with the ADHD specalist that she doesn't see that Horse Girl has any of the other symptoms of ADHD then the distractablity and the hyperactivity and just having those two things does not make it that Horse Girl has ADHD. So it is nice to know her Doctor is backing us up.

We finally went home. Still no power, but the sun was out. So I boiled water on the grill and Horse Girl helped me wash dishes. It is interesting under stress Horse Girl wants to help and be helpful to people. History Girl just wants to be by herself. It took me until three days into not having power to realize this about my girls.....what can I say I can be a bit slow. :-)

Fly Guy came home early from work and we all walked down the the grocery store and bought stuff that we could make on the grill and we ate at home and played boardgames, listened to the Red Sox on the radio and had a good time.

Then we went to bed, the girls still together in Horse Girl's room since it seems to keep them warmer at night.

Fly Guy and I woke up on Thursday and still no power. The girls slept late. Fly Guy and I talked about what to do about the laundry stituation. Should I take it to the laundrmat or should I take it to my parents. After awhile I called my mother and asked if I could bring over our laundry. Well I loaded the car up and got ready to head over and what do I see on the street? Bright orange Central Maine Power trucks. I have never been so happy to see something bright orange as I was to see those trucks.

Everyone who was home on the street watched them do their work. When the power came on there was a celebration. You could hear "Thank Yous" being yelled out of a window at every house. We were all very happy.

I took the laundry out of my car and back to basement so I could wash it in my own washer and drier. History Girl watched TV and logged on to her Webkinz account to check her Webkinz. Horse girl did the same, but a friend from school called her to come play at her house so she did that.

So we made it through the storm with little problem. It was hard. The house was damaged. But at least we still have our house....some people's homes washed away and our house didn't flood. We were very lucky in many many ways. We fixed the hole the water comes into the basement so our basement has been dry since then. One of the best things was that we didn't have see everything that happened at Virgina Tech on TV the whole time. I could read it in the paper and digest it that way which was easier for me. People have asked me if I think the rest of the country missed what was going on up because of what happened at Virgina Tech....yes I think that is the case, but being Mainers I am not sure we would have wanted the attention. We are quite strong people, who I believe would rather have the attention on the people who lost their love ones at Virgina Tech. We as a state were very lucky we had only three death from this horrable storm, so the attention was at the right place.