Hurricanes and Pumpkins

Hurricane Sandy hit this past week and more or less kept us inside for about 48 hours.  We fared really well, all things considering.  The only damage we really had was a few downed limbs and lots of leaves to clean up.  Our power flickered once and never went off.  Compared to the news of New York and New Jersey, which are still turning power back on, without gas, and essentials, we were really lucky.  Even parts of surrounding towns got their power back on mid week.

We also had a house guest during the storm, Chris's sister Katie, who was visiting from Florida for a few days.  She flew up Sunday as the storm was beginning, on one of the last incoming flights to Logan.  

My school was canceled Monday and Tuesday and Sam had no school Monday and a delay on Tuesday.  Some of the teachers at school were relieved to come to work and have electricity and charge their electronics.

All the inside time was a little tricky with Sam and Katie, while Chris was answering flooded basements, leaking roof, and downed tree calls late into the nights.  He also got to shut of alarms from power going out and being restored, among other things.

Here are a few photos of the pumpkin carving we undertook while we were waiting out the storm.

 Scooping out the seeds.  He actually sustained attention to this task for a good amount of time.

 Here he's telling me, "Ok.  Now I figure out how to draw a face on my pumpkin."

 Here's the face he drew in marker.  I carved the face that I thought I saw in the design and left it at that.

Hurricane Party

We survived Hurricane Irene, fairing a lot better than neighboring states and communities.  We maintained power through the storm.  Unfortunately Chris had numerous property damage and flood calls, so was out most of the day, which left me to attempt to keep Sam both inside ("Out-si Mama, OUTSI" + banging on the deck door) and away from windows that have large trees near them.  Chris came home safely and trees & tree limbs stayed fairly intact (at least they stayed "out-si").  Sam kept me entertained and the most damage we had was to our remaining vegetable plants (the ones the squirrels have not destroyed) and our porch bar, which is repairable and has become more of a plant holder since Sam's arrival.

                                                                             The bar.