Irene

We came through Hurricane Irene pretty well. Never lost power besides several flickers, had water and phone throughout. The only real damage was some downed branches and twigs, a number of leaves all around, and my cucumber and pole bean trellis falling like a house of cards from the wind at about noon yesterday. Looking at the projected storm paths most of the week, I'd been expecting much worse.

Now, the same can't be said about the rest of the state, even just a dozen miles southwest where power is out, trees are down, people have lost their water....

This is to say nothing of sheer idiocy, where a once-in-a-lifetime canoeing opportunity turned into just that. A little piece of foam fastened to ones' chest was a bridge too far, apparently. It's a thin line between the human desire to "feel alive" and the wrath of Mother Nature screaming "DIE!" at all turns. A thin line, that is very poorly guarded under optimal circumstances. And even less guarded when naked machismo makes one believe he doesn't even need to wear a life jacket while navigating raging flood waters. There's still no Edit-Undo button for real life.

Anyway... it's time to clean up.