Hurricane Irene

This is just a sample of what Irene left us last Saturday night. We were fortunate not to have flooding in our immediate area, just some water in the basement, but we lost about 15 trees or more in the wooded area at the back of our property. The view from our deck is now quite different than it was last week! And when it's all cleaned up, we'll have lots more open space in the yard, which is at best a mixed blessing. But we're fine, and after three nights and two plus days without power, I'm feeling much, much better today!! Had my morning shower, so now I can go grocery shopping to replace most of the stuff I had to throw out of the fridge and freezers, pay bills, run errands, etc. and people won't avoid me because I'm smelly! LOL!!!
Goodnight (and goodbye) IRENE!

You never know what to expect....

We knew there is a hurricane(Irene) headed our way and that was enough to think about, especially since one of my children and her family are down at the Outer Banks, and that's a prime target. But this afternoon we were treated to a rare 5.8 earthquake on the East Coast! I felt my chair shaking and asked my husband if he was doing that. But he wasn't and soon the little wind chimes I have hanging on a cupboard in my sunroom (indoors) began to chime, and dear husband notice the wall behind him shaking, too. The noise got louder and louder like a huge convoy of construction trucks might be going by, so we knew it was an earthquake. Not unheard of in this area, but certainly not of this magnitude. It lasted a half-minute or a little less and we just didn't know what to do. What does one do in an earthquake? I know in a tornado you go to the basement,in a hurricane you evacuate(which is what I hope my daughter will do in plenty of time), in a flood you go to high ground, but what does one do in an earthquake besides just hope for the best???
Anyway we are all okay, and all the children checked in (some within the danger area in Virginia, and some near the Washington DC area that was hit fairly hard). Everyone was fine though, so I feel very fortunate. People in California are probably laughing at us for getting so excited over this, but it's just unheard of in our area so it really is a big deal for us.

Rarity

This is a normal occurrence at the feeder outside my window. One hummingbird, either male or female, in this case, will find a perch to guard the food source and prevent any other birds from feeding here.

But this day I was lucky enough to catch two birds feeding at once! I don't know if this is a mother and "child" maybe, or if they just didn't realize the other bird was there. These little birds are so much fun to watch!