Friday, September 19, 2003

HURRICANE ISABEL UPDATES

Thursday 11:45pm: The worst of it has apparently blown by. We were pretty lucky, even though the power was going on and off intermittently for most of the night. Other areas, though, were pretty hard hit and I send my prayers to those who have suffered significant damage. I went to pick up the mail aobut 15 minutes ago since it stopped raining. The Wind is still stiff and I noticed a tree had been blown down across our street. Fortunately, our electrical/telephone lines are underground so there is little chance of it being affected. But, all in all, it wasn't as bad as everyone had feared...

5:45pm: Just had a power outage for about an hour. Virginia always has power outages during any major storm. The infrastructure must be pretty bad. Our area is pretty modern but damage to other older ares will still affect us... Anyway, gotta hurry and do things before another outage...

4pm: Not much to report. I replaced the water flow valve in the downstairs toilet. It seems to be working for the the time being. The wind is picking up, more like gusts of winds. I don't mind the rain so much, as long as the wind doesn't send a tree through our window. Mmh and Bebe remarked that I looked too young to have grandkids. (re: 2pm update) Well I AM TOO YOUNG. Hahaha. Actually, they are my step-grandkids, 3 boys. 6, 3, and one month. They belong to my eldest stepson who is 25 (?) years old. Musubi-chan--same age as me--married early and had three sons, bang, bang, bang. No big deal. We always talk about it when we're BSing with strangers at bars and stuff. Their eyes widen and their jaws drop when they hear we're grandparents. Like Bebe said, maybe its an Asian thing. Me? I attribute it to good clean living. Y'know, 真面目な生活? Muwahahaha!

2pm: Raining steadily, but the winds are not strong; breezy might be the word for now. Went to Safeway and a local Korean Market called Lotte to get those gas containers for those indoor table-top stoves. Of course, had to get beer, and ice to keep it cold in case the power goes out. Also went to Home Depot. Our toilet water valve went on the fritz last might so I went to get the necessary parts--ah, the pleasures of home ownership. Remember you guys: NEVER buy a fixer-uper if you are not ALREADY handy with household repairs/maintenance. I did a bit with my dad when I was a youngin'. To date the biggest repair I have accomplished is to remove Kleenex shoved into the toilet by my then 1.5-year-old grandson... from underneath. This required me to remove the toilet, guide my hand through unspeakably foul-smelling, mushy-feeling brown stuff (to this day I am trying to convince myself its somekind of toilet algae), to clear the path. Then reseal the toilet to the floor. The sealing--using somekind of special toilet wax--is the tricky part. If you don't seal it right, then the toilet will leak... Yuck. Its been two years, so I'm reasonably sure I sealed it correctly... Anyway, I got on this tangent to tell you that, other than fixing toilets (which might have to do with my special affinity for it), I am totally incompetent with tools. So you can put together an Ikea table or chair? Not good enough. Learn to use a blow torch, then you're be in business.

12 noon: Nothing so far. It's cloudy outside with a slight breeze. No rain. Lot of adult male neighbors milling around. I am obviously not the only one who has work off today. I hear a hammer pounding: Is someone boarding up their windows? Nah, they can't be serious... A gust of wind... I'm going to Safeway to get some ice. If the Electricity goes down, the beer won't stay cold and Musubi-chan's attitude will turn south.... Hahaha Besides, time to get batteries.... Extras, just in case.

Wednesday night: YOSHA! No school tomorrow (Thursday): Government is closed, Metro trains will be down. Better get some D batteries for the flashlights, but I got plenty of candles... more later.

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