Should We Stay Or Should We Go?

Hey everyone, first we're alive and well, just very busy and not really gardening much.  But here's something I wrote for my local Patch and thought I'd share here too.  Tomorrow morning we'll be preparing the garden for Irene.  Not looking forward to this at all.  Here's the post from Patch:

I was a few weeks shy of 11 when Hurricane Gloria hit CT and living in my childhood home in Guilford.  We were inland, pretty far east (almost Madison), and on reasonably high ground.  However, I think my fear of thunderstorms, and I'd like to call it almost anything but fear, but that's the only word that fits, must come from experiencing Hurricane Gloria. 

If you remember that age...10 almost 11, you're very innocent, but old enough to pick up on the emotions of the adults around you, and what I was picking up from my parents was disturbing.  I remember my stepfather calling the town and asking where the emergency shelter was if he experienced flooding.  He was told St. George's Church was our emergency shelter, but it was a good 3.5 miles of extremely wooded roads from our house.  It was also considerably lower ground than our home.  He not so politely informed the person with whom he was speaking of those facts. 

During the storm we sat in the living room with the roar of the wind all around us prepared to run down to the basement if it got any worse.  The eye arrived and my stepfather and I went out to survey the damage.  I remember how eerily quiet it was after all that wind.  We found power lines down over the road in both directions from our house -- not at all surprising given how many trees uprooted during that storm.  I'm sure you all remember that the second half of the hurricane never arrived.  For some reason I have no memory of my mom or my little sister at all, but I know they were there.

For years after Hurricane Gloria I remember missing the trees that came down on the Guilford Green during the storm.  I'm not at all sure when I stopped noticing that those trees were missing, but at some point I did.  I was a little girl who didn't particularly enjoy getting dirty, but I thought the caverns that the uprooted trees in our woods left behind were magical places.  I never did have the courage to climb down into one though.

After Gloria hit we were without power for 10 days and since we had well water, which doesn't work so well without electricity to run the pump, no water for 10 days.  I was going to school in New Haven at the time and if I remember correctly we returned to school after only 3 days, while Guilford had a whole week off!  I remember thinking it wasn't fair that we had no power or water at home but I still had to go to school!  We did have a wood stove in the house, so at least there were hot meals. 

Things are a little different now.  I'm reasonably certain that even though our house is only 13 feet above sea level and about 400 feet from Branford River it won't flood, but I have absolutely no idea how long we'll be without power.  Because I'm almost certain that we'll be without power.  So if I can't work from home or travel the 45 miles to my office (and who knows if there will be power there), why shouldn't I head out of town?  My sister lives in Chicago, just a short 14.5 hour drive west and has a spare room for us.

Should we stay or should we go?

Comments

[Katie]

Go.

[Jan Smith]

You sound like you have already convinced yourself to go. Those who care about you will be relieved to know you are safe. I will be thinking about you, Heather.

[Mummer]

Stay - this is your Mom talking who's very naturally concerned about your safety....
Storm is already down-graded to Cat 1, and by the time is gets to you, it will probably be wind gusts at tropical storm level, and, much much milder than what we experienced in Gloria.
And, your landlord has removed trees that might impact your roof. ?But maybe it's just more relaxing to go for a long ride? Say hi to Shan for me!

[Heather's Garden]

Well, I really wanted to go, but Lee convinced me to stay put, thus giving me plenty of fuel for I told you sos later on. Yes, mom, the storm has lost some intensity, but Goeff Fox is saying comparable or worse damage due to more rain with this storm. We'll see. I'll probably do a post on our storm prepped garden before we lose power!