Clean up from Hurricane Irene

Yep, we lost power alright...for 73 hours!! It just came on last night (Tuesday) at 7:00PM and we lost it at 6:00PM on Saturday night. I was too exhausted to even turn on the computer last night to catch up on my blog. AND trust me, I REALLY wanted to but I was rockin' a migraine and just wiped out from the exhaustion of trying to get things accomplished without modern technology to help me. See, for our house and many of my friends' houses...we have well water. So, without power, we have no pump to bring water to our house. I'm not going to sugar coat this...it was brutal! We filled our bathtub on the main floor with water and designated that as our hand washing water, tooth brushing water and yes, our toilet tank water. We had to fill the tank to flush. I know, totally sounds like a blast, doesn't it?! But we did it and so did so many people in our area and we are happy that was our biggest hardship.

So, let's get to the exciting stuff...the picture below was actually shown on The Weather Channel...hollah!!!

We can't find the monkey bars and swings...can you?!

I believe I was working on getting the water station set up (aka - bathtub) when I heard a loud crash. I ran to our great room and that is what I saw. Thankfully, that was the worst of it in our yard. We had several other tree tops snap off and fall down to the ground (and some are still stuck among the other branches) but the big mess would be cleaning up this gigantic branch on the swing set.

This is where our hero, Chris, (aka - The hubs, Daddy) came to the rescue!

Truthfully, I think he couldn't wait to get his chainsaw out :-)

Notice the work boots...this lumberjack means business!

This tree branch is going down...again!!!

The hubs dissected this tree like it was his profession. He had it in pieces in no time at all, took the axe to the bigger pieces and then stocked the wood pile to keep us all warm & cozy during the winter.

Before Irene came to town, there was no wood pile on the left and the wood holder on the right was empty

Chris wasn't done there though. He continued to clean the yard of all the fallen branches & twigs so Ash & Bean and our dog, Jamaica, wouldn't get hurt while playing in the yard. (Yes, I know that there is a trampoline in the background and that the girls are more likely to get hurt on that than by a fallen limb in the yard but you get my point!)

Is that tree branch removal or what?! Come on, it really is the "after" picture and not one from a previous day!

For kids and a dog who had been trapped inside until it was deemed safe to go outside...he was definitely our hero!!! Now, if I could just get him to tackle that junk closet of ours...(without a chainsaw, I mean...don't get any ideas, Chris!)

Do you have any stories to share from Hurricane Irene?

P.S. Baltimore Gas & Electric - Thank you for restoring the power to our house. Never have I been so happy just to flush a toilet :-)

P.P.S Dear Smartphone - I will never say, "Smart...really?!?! Then why did you just auto correct the way you did?!?!", again. You kept me connected with family & friends when the land lines couldn't. I may even treat you to a new, pretty cover :-)