Living in Central New York, I hoped we would escape the brunt of Hurricane Irene. And I suppose we did. For several days I watched the hurricane tracker and noticed with alarm how the impact line kept shifting to the west. First it was going to pass to the east of Oneonta, then it was right along Oneonta, and then it was west of Oneonta, encompassing my part of town. Ah, well.

I woke yesterday to light rain and little wind, but by 7:30, the internet died (and then revived) and the power flickered a couple of times. Just before noon, the internet died again, the power went moments later, and that was it until around 3 this afternoon. This was after hearing rumors that power could be lost for some for weeks.

I had to drive through the storm in the morning to drop off one daughter’s friend, who had slept over here, and to pick up my other daughter, who stayed at her friend’s house. I’ve had an idea poking around in my mind off and on for some time that relates to the idea of having someone else’s kid visiting when some great disaster strikes (disaster on the scale of The Road) and the family dynamics. Maybe I’ll get on that now.

I can’t really complain, all things considered, thirty hours or so without power is nothing compared to 35 deaths (at least), destroyed homes and evacuations. A tip of the hat to emergency services personnel and the men and women of the utility companies who have worked extremely hard to restore power all around. I hope you all are well and have come through the storm unscathed.