Mean Irene

Some of you have seen this silly little picture I took to poke just a little fun at the earthquake media response this past week.  This was my "earthquake cleanup".  And now we have a Hurricane Irene bearing down on the East Coast especially Long Island.  The Albany area is not out of the woods either and we are thinking of all of you.  I will not be poking fun at Mean Irene.

Of course, this made me think about my hurricane experiences and I realized that almost ALL of them include the Dalpiaz clan!  Just after we were married in 1985, 21 Duffin Avenue and neighbors suffered significant damage from Hurricane Gloria in late September.  James immediately made preparations to drive home to help with the cleanup and I admit I did not understand this.  I tried to talk him out of it, but of course, he went and was even able to corral some friends and chainsaws.  That trip generated many stories that we now smile about. 

In August 1991, we were visiting Long Island and Hurricane Bob made a visit.  My recollection is that our trip home was delayed by a day and I was afraid we were going to miss the closing on our house.  But we didn't and today it makes another good story.  We recently reviewed some video footage of that storm in your Duffin Avenue backyard.

In August of 2004, Charley changed some of our travel plans in Florida.  We were staying with Kathleen and Nick after a Disney trip and helped them with Florida style hurricane prep.  I remember these preparations opening Ryan's eyes to the potential danger.  Then we decided to leave the coast and go to Nick's brother's house to watch the hurricane turn away and actually come closer to where we were.  We had peas and ditalini for the first time and it was a BIG hit with Amy and Ryan.  Another interesting story to tell in later years (or blogs).

So far as I know, we'll be riding out Irene by ourselves but we are thinking of you all!