Wind storm 2011

I looked out the window and what did I see?  Garbage cans flying down the streets, great pine trees falling, fences demolishing, trampolines crumpled up and large pieces of debris hurtling through the air.   We had a windstorm with hurricane force gusts up to 102 mph.  It was freakishly amazing. I can not believe the power behind those winds and I got weary seeing things getting destroyed.   I was sad to see so many huge pine trees go. I am so thankful for a sound, safe home. It was a wake up call to be more prepared for emergencies, we had no electricity for almost three days.  I had bought the kids headlamps and wind-up lanterns and warm sweatshirts for Christmas and ended up using them, grateful to have them.  At night we used flashlights and kept warm with our gas fireplace.  The kids wished the electricity would go out more often.  Ah, so is the simple pure life in a child's mind. I remember fun times having my own flashlight and family stories at night when the electricity shut off.
We spent all day today cleaning up our neighbor Marie's yard.  My dad came to help and I really think most guys will do anything to run their chainsaws.  It was like kids with light sabers. There were some branches up high on a tree that needed to be cut down, so my dad volunteered me to do it. I was the lightest one there and could easily climb the tree, so I did it in the spirit of service.   Gee thanks dad.
The kids did a great job pulling the branches to the street. It took nearly all day, so we took them to get ice cream and a movie for all their hard work.  Needless to say, our food storage is now stocked and I'm getting 72 hour kits together. What a crazy weekend.