Susan Wise Bauer's Blog, page 13
September 3, 2011
Twitter Weekly Updates for 2011-09-04
Midnight. After 10 inches plus in a single day, rain still solid outside. #
Cell & landlines gone (DSL still working). Huge tree fell beside Peace Hill Press office, sheared off power/phone/DSL; we'll be out a while. #
DSL now out. So no phones, cell, power, or Internet. Texting only connection w/outside world. #
Can get web access on iPhone for about 3 minutes at a time if I lean out of 3rd floor window & point it north. #
I WANT CLEAN CLOTHES. #
When power's out, best thing to do is work on 12th-century Aristotelian dialectic in theology…OK, that didn't even sound convincing to me. #
Making cookies. Again. If power doesn't come on soon I will need a new and larger wardrobe. (But at least it will be clean.) #
Dominion Power restoration estimate went from Saturday between 5 & 11 PM to "There is currently no estimate for your area." NOT A GOOD SIGN. #
Power! Power power power power power power! #
Powered by Twitter Tools
August 28, 2011
Aftermath
It's a gorgeous morning. Clear blue sky, breeze. And a whole lot of branches on the ground.
Here at the farm, we're in pretty good shape. Thanks to the heroic efforts of our farm manager last week, most of the trees that COULD have been a problem got trimmed up or taken down before the winds hit. And, much to my surprise (and yours, if you watched this video I took at 6 PM yesterday), the road is still functioning. Washed, but stable.
Trees are apparently down between here and everywhere with a store, so I don't anticipate getting out of here any time soon; also we have no power (generator's running, though), cell or landline service. And although the farm is fine, the Peace Hill Press office next door isn't quite as well off.
This is the big oak tree that stood beside the Press until 3 AM today. Now, believe me, I know how fortunate we are that the tree didn't go ONTO the office itself. But if you look to the left of the photo, you'll see the problem.
It sheared off both the power lines AND the phone/DSL lines to the office, plus pulling the meter almost all the way off the wall.
We're hearing that it might be a week or even two before all power is restored, and we have no idea where we fall in that spectrum. But I doubt we're going to see a Dominion power truck any time soon, and getting Verizon out here is going to be equally tough (particularly if my own phone doesn't start working again). And I don't know how long it will take me to find someone who can haul that tree away.
The Peace Hill Press store and site are fine, since they're hosted in Seattle and since our books ship from a warehouse in the Midwest. We're not going to be up and running at the office any time soon, though.
But there's a certain beauty even in the mess.
August 27, 2011
Twitter Weekly Updates for 2011-08-28
Mumford & Sons is currently making the political history of the Renaissance much more interesting. #
Whole house just shook, lights & fans swung, TV shifted, windows & rafters groaned. DD10: "Oh, I thought it was just Dan coming downstairs." #
Heading to the airport with second son: off to college for freshman year. #
There's a buffalo outside my hotel window. #
DS17 happily unpacking in new dorm room; DH and I heading for a self-congratulatory dinner in St. Louis. 2 in college, 2 to go. #
The northern edge of Irene: Rain and some pretty noisy winds at 8 AM in SE Virginia; tops of the trees are thrashing hard. #
First power blink, and we're still eight hours or so from height of storm. Fabulous. #
Road totally underwater, cell phone not working, sounds of large things crashing down in the woods all around, losing Monopoly to boot. #
Nine inches of rain so far today. #
Powered by Twitter Tools
Irene: southeastern Virginia, 6 PM, August 27
It's 7:30 as I type this and too dark for any more pictures, but the wind is far worse than it has been; it has that freight-train sound which is even more alarming in the dark. Supposed to be lessening soon. That would be a good thing.
Here's what I saw at 6 PM when I went down our lane to see if it was still passable…you might not be able to hear what I'm saying, due to the freight-train wind…and as you'll see, that would be a "no" on the passable part.
August 20, 2011
Twitter Weekly Updates for 2011-08-21
Forced to pull culinary MacGyver, thanks to vacation house w/no pantry: chicken crusted w/crushed Wheat Thins & potatochips. Resounding hit! #
Powered by Twitter Tools
August 18, 2011
Outer Banks photo of the week
In Frisco, NC this week with the kids. And here's my favorite pic of the week…
Good to know. In case I run out of my own.
August 14, 2011
The weekly roundup
I realize that I'm more often using my public Facebook page to make brief notes about reading and random thoughts…and as most of my energy has ben going into the History of the Renaissance World recently, there have been many more brief notes than well-reasoned blog posts recently.
But the posts do give a sense of what I've been up to during the week, so here's a summary…
8/8
Let's see…a week's family vacation, and then a day of birthday celebration that included a movie doubleheader: Cowboys and Aliens (mayhem!) and Rise of the Planet of the Apes (yet more mayhem!). And peanutbutter-chocolate cupcakes made by my wonderful children. And now back to work.
8/9
Today my oldest son turns twenty. And later this month, my second son turns eighteen. Here they are in first and third grade…when things were simpler (although I didn't realize it at the time).
8/10
So I started work at eight this morning on the western trade route to Ghana, and have ended up at noon investigating the Australian feral camel. That was quite a rabbit trail. I love my job.
(Today's research courtesy of The Camel and the Wheel, by Richard W. Bulliet)
8/11
Trying to locate the general size of Lake Chad circa 1140 AD. Feeling the truth of this statement: "It should by now be clear that Lake Chad is a cartographer's nightmare."
(SOME answers in Three Thousand Years in Africa: Man and His Environment, by Graham Connah)
8/12
Giving our kids too many opportunities can be "displaced fear about the collapse of the future." Interesting piece on the "Overbooked Child" from the New York Times: "Children's Activities No Guarantee of Later Success."
8/14
Personally, I think it's a very good thing that the "pretty stewardess" turned into a "flight attendant." And, yeah, "cowboy" is probably not the lucrative career choice it once was.
From "How to Be A Retronaut": Comparison of Richard Scarry's Best Word Book Ever, 1963 and 1991 editions
August 13, 2011
Twitter Weekly Updates for 2011-08-14
This morning, I have wandered all the way from western trade routes to Ghana, over to investigate the Australian feral camel. Love my job. #
Heading for Family Vacation #2 -this one just us and the kids, in the Outer Banks. If we ever get there. I hate tunnel traffic. #
Powered by Twitter Tools
August 6, 2011
Twitter Weekly Updates for 2011-08-07
Powered by Twitter Tools
Susan Wise Bauer's Blog
- Susan Wise Bauer's profile
- 1072 followers
