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20 Sep '08 - 511 W, 1 I In Ike's Path

You've all heard about Ike and the devastation it wreaked in Texas and other places. Well, Ike came through here last Sunday. It was very strange - bright sunny day, and huge wind gusts. We lost power around 2 or 3 PM, and when my wireless router finally conked out after the TV and all other appliances died, we felt totally cut off from the world. Never mind that we still had the phone and the cell phones. It just felt so weird. Luckily Vin has a little battery operated transistor radio - we caught the end of the Reds game (very windy there too!) and then at the post-game program, heard that over 700,000 Duke Energy customer had lost power. That translated to about 1.5 million people in the Greater Cincinnati area without electricity. Also that the wind gusts translated to a Category 1 hurricane, basically. Can you imagine how strong Ike was, to have blown through Texas and come up this far north and STILL be such a force? Downed trees and tree limbs everywhere. Debris in our yard. Luckily, the trees in the yard stood strong - only the dead branches came flying off. The neighbors across the street had a big branch almost blown off - cracked horribly in the wind. Same kind of tree that we have, too (don't ask me the name of the tree, I don't know).

It depressed me to no end as they projected that it might take days before power was restored. It really hit home that every single appliance in this house, from the stove, the oven, the kettle, the heating and a/c - ALL electricity! We worried about the food in the fridge, did we have enough water, etc. And of course, we have a new little baby who might need things. Rechargeable batteries does no one any good if we can't recharge them and they run out of juice.

Lily was at first by the back sliding door trying to attack the blowing leaves (see the video), but as the wind picked up and other debris was being blown about back there, even she was scared away from the door and she remained safely in the middle of the room rather than by the windows.

Anyway, we were the lucky few customers who got their power restored - came back around 11 PM on Sunday night. We cheered (we were in the bedroom but still awake - did I mention we have a little baby whose schedule we bow to?). As of today, there are still people without electricity in the Greater Cincinnati-Northern Kentucky area!

Take a look at the leaves swirling in the back here - keep in mind this was not the hardest the wind would blow that day:

* click on the image to launch the movie

Wishing everyone affected by Hurricane Ike all the best, especially to those still without power here locally, as well as those who were really in its devastating path in Galveston and Houston.