Sunday, December 17, 2006

Silenced by the Force (of nature)

As you might have read, we received a little smackdown around here from nature on Thursday night. I woke up at about 1:00 in the morning to see complete and utter darkness around the entire area.

We were fine. We had no heat, but we have gas water heaters and a gas stove, so we were able to take warm showers and cook. Many of our neighbors were not so lucky.

Here are a few pictures that i took of the many, many trees that were down, all within about a mile of our house.



And here is another one:
and yet another:



And if you can stand it, one more. I'm thinking we should keep this one and advertise it as "The Drive Through Tree." Well, it works in California!


The pictures are a bit crappy, but they were taken as it was getting dark on Friday afternoon.

On Saturday morning, we got up and high-tailed it over to my brother's house in Seattle, so i could charge my toothbrush. (I have certain standards of personal hygiene that i don't care to violate.) My SIL took pity on us and invited us to stay for dinner. I think it was the BSE (Big Sad Eyes) that got to her.

We left their house about 8:00 and drove across Lake Washington to our side of the world. All lighting ceased about halfway across the bridge. There were occassional pockets of light here and there, but mostly dark.

We had to detour around a few closed roads to get home, but as we were 2 houses away, Look! We have power! Hooray! We are in the only pocket of lighted houses that i could see up and down our whole lake.

Today we are dancing naked in our heated home.

33 comments:

Mignon said...

Glad to hear you're well. My brother is north of the U a little ways and wasn't affected, but the news. You know how the news is. Deadly storm of 2006!! Bridges floating away!! Apocolypse!! (Except that last one was a movie review I think.)

Sonia Wetzel Photography said...

Oof. Glad you have power. We lost it from Thursday night at 9:30pm until sometime Friday afternoon. The child and I had made a run for Grandma's house for a shower and warm food by then. Our power is back on, thankfully. I just posted photos of my dad's car (totalled) and my friends' house (also totalled). I think we were very lucky!

Anonymous said...

Glad to read you are doing well. All this and X-mas 'round the bend...

Unknown said...

Glad to hear you all are safe! And dancing nekkid. There should be more of that in the world.

SUEB0B said...

My sis lives up there and raises birds. Poor cold birdies. One baby died, sniff. She has power now, too.

I am glad you are warm and safe.

Lynnea said...

What is life without naked dancing in your home? Thank the gracious powers that you have been returned to your normally scheduled life!

Glad you're ok too.

QT said...

I was wondering if you were affected. I am glad all of you are safe and sound and....dancing naked!

Mother of Invention said...

It always amazes me that with each power outage we all are so surprised that we can't find flashlights and candles we vowed the last time to put in the same spot so we'd find them the next time!! I have good intentions but then, in the meantime, have used them for something else and don't remember where I left them!

We've had 2 this fall and we're not even into the blizzards yet! Hope I get one flashlight nailed down in each room in my house for Christmas!

Anonymous said...

Holy crap, woman. That's incredibly intense. So glad you are okay and have HEAT again!

Girlplustwo said...

dude. i am SO glad you are all ok.

but am wondering why the naked dancing pictures didn't make the cut? i mean, really...

AC said...

I know those lights were beautiful, driving up to them. Glad things are looking up.

urban-urchin said...

i'm so glad you're okay, and have power. your neighborhood is lovely by the way. enjoy the naked dancing...

meno said...

mignon, It's the End of the World as We Know It, and i feel fine. Thank you for your concern.

DDM, Wow, you got off nice and easy! I am glad. I saw your dad's car, and your friend's house. Yikes!

caro, ah, Christmas. Whatever. we are all alive and well and happy.

nancy, ain't that the truth. Bonfire and olive oil at my house!

suebob, i worried so much about the kitties at the shelter. I am sorry about the cold birdies. :(

maggie, thank you honey. Naked dancing all around. Celebrate life baby!

qt, it has been amazing witnessing the destruction. Mother nature let us know who is really running the show.

MOI, i know exactly where my flashlight is! As long as i remember.

jeenifer, thank you. I really feel for the houses that i can see, or not see now that it's dark. The electricity, it is a fine thing. Aren't those pictures amazing?

jen, thank you. Um, sorry, maybe next time. because i have one fine naked in the firelight body!

ac, it is eerie to look out and see the dark spaces where we know that there is usually light. We feel so lucky.

Marshamlow said...

I am glad you are all safe. Did you say you live near Lake Washington? My grandma and grandpa built a house on Lake Wasington in the 1920's. It was sold when my grandma passed away in 1990, still many fond memories. My grandpa was a professor at the University of Washington, anyways glad you got your power and your house didn't blow away. Hope the winter gets a little milder for you.

Melessa Gregg said...

I'm glad you are safe. I have a lot of close relatives in your same area and they are fine too. Though I don't want to picture them dancing naked in their living room. ;>)

Lisa @ The Plain-Spoken Pen said...

Wow. I'm glad y'all are OK and that the power is back on.

Liv said...

Meno--Thank goodness you are alright! And that you were able to get a good charge on your toothbrush. Hot, naked dancing is no good with sweaters on your teeth,

And, jen? really! You just got married and you're already looking for nekkid photos of another woman. I am appalled!

Antonia Cornwell said...

God, I'm glad you're OK. Hooray for nudity in the face of adversity.

Bob said...

woot - you survived! intact! with brushed teeth even!

I've got some olive oil over here if you run out.

karmic said...

Glad to know you are well. That was some storm.
I hear ya about some things re personal hygiene.

Mona Buonanotte said...

Congrats on Power! That storm looks like it dropped a whole bucket of Nasty on y'all....

sari said...

I'm glad you're all ok. I hope that things return to normal soon - those trees!

Amazing!

We are expecting your storm tonight, I'm sure it won't be on the scale you had it, but anytime rain hits the desert, we're happy.

peevish said...

Dancing naked? Now I really admire you!

thailandchani said...

Several people are reporting in today about the loss of power. Sounds terrible! Glad you all came out of it okay. :)


Peace,

~chani

egan said...

Great pictures Meno. This was one of those times I kind of wish I didn't leave town. I missed the big 6.8 earthquake in 2001 and this huge wind storm.

I do remember the big Inauguration Day storm in 1994 as I was in the arboretum the following day studying the damage in my forestry class.

Are you dancing around naked with a smutty magazine in your sweaty hands?

meno said...

u-u, come and join in the dancing!

marsha, We don't live too near Lk Wa, we live on one of the "lesser lakes". But living on any lake is okay by me. Where was your grandpa's house?

melessa, all things considered, there were very few people hurt. I am glad all your relatives are okay too, and that they have clothes on.

lisa, thank you. We love the electricity!

liv, my toothbrush is vital. We actually borrowed this device that would have allowed me to charge it off my car, that's how much i love it!

d-man, so sorry. I didn't want to get olive oil on the lens.

antonia, thanks. :) Nudity is appropriate in many situations.

bob, the wind it did howl, but all is fine, yay! I'm good with the olive oil, i got a fresh keg from Costco a few weeks ago, but thanks for the offer.

sanjay, i wish MORE people would concern themselves with oral hygiene, if you know what i mean!

s-s, thanks for the concern. I think the news likes to go heavy on the drama.

mona, and those pictures are all very near my house, imagine that multiplied by hundreds of miles.

sari, impressive huh? Hope you don't get any flying cactii.

lisa, well, maybe with a jog bra.....

chani, there was a very widespread area affected. We got very lucky to get our power back so soon.

egan, too bad you missed all the fun. I was here for the earthquake too. Next time you leave town i'm going too. I got olive oil all over the smut, so the pages are stuck together. ooops.

egan said...

Meno - when I do leave town things seem to happen. Maybe Emmett Watson is telling me something, don't leave town. I also missed the nasty Mardi Gras riots in Pioneer Square.

How's the smut treating you? Olive oil eh? That's a lubricant I hadn't thought about.

Anonymous said...

EEEK! I'm glad everyone is well, at least - and well enough, even, to dance naked in the heated house! I think that's just a fantastic way to deal with upheaval!

Anonymous said...

Good grief Meno! I am glad you're all OK - it sounds seriously dramatic!

Anonymous said...

Warm and dancing naked. Gotta love it. Cold and dancing naked....kind of ridiculous.... Reminds me of the streaker I saw in SF.

Glad you're safe and dental fresh!

meno said...

egan, olive oil is heart healthy!

mrs. chili, it's amazing what a little wind can do, ain't it?

platypus, the wind howling did wake me up. Then i had to stay awake in case a tree fell on the house. Although what my being awake would have done to prevent that i don't know.

patches, hey, the cats are naked all the time, why not us?

Tink said...

It looks like a hurricane blew through. I'm glad you have heat and no one was hurt. You're very lucky!

amusing said...

Wahoo! Free pine boughs for wreath-making!