Goodnight Irene!!!!!

The end of last week was the end of a very eventful week for the east coast. First we had an earthquake (8/23) and then a hurricane (Irene - 8/26-27). I do believe that Mother Nature was trying to give us a message. I have yet to figure out what it is, but when I do I know that it will be very enlightening.

I was at the gym for the earthquake - it was all noise for me as the building protested. No rippling of the ground etc. Truth be told I really did not know that an earthquake had happened until the next patron came in and asked if I had felt "it". "It" being the earthquake - 5.9 on the scale and centered in Virginia. There was minor damage in Baltimore and DC, but nothing that claimed lives.

Irene on the other hand came ashore in North Carolina and proceeded up the east coast - hitting land a couple more times and slinking away as a tropical storm going towards Canada. Each part of the country was the recipient of it's own type of damage from wind, storm surges, high winds and mega rainfalls. It had been decades literally since some parts of the northeast actually experienced this type of storm. The politicos went to work and they evacuated thousands of people in harms way and closed stuff down - some are claiming they went overboard, while others were glad for the precautions. I am a firm believer in the fact that there would probably be many more storm related deaths if these precautions had not been taken.

My little corner of the world was barely phased by either event. My trees stood firm and only gave up a small portion of their branches and we avoided the lose of power as well. The only thing that went wrong was the fact that we lost cable for a couple of days. A minor inconvenience considering that we could have lost the contents of our freezer, which was full to capacity with newly purchased supplies.

We were told to prepare for the worst and expect the best. This is exactly what happened for me and mine but for others it has been catastrophic - loss of a few lives, loss of home, loss of a way of life and in at least one case the loss of a whole a town. It is as if it never existed. It is going to be quite some time before some semblance of order is restored and lives can be put back together again. My heart felt wishes and prayers go out to each and every one them for a speedy and full recovery.