Evidently, the wild speculations have already begun (to say nothing of the irresponsible Photoshopping).
Our focus should naturally be on continued prayers for all those directly or indirectly involved in the Boston Marathon bombing tragedy. However, I hope you will take up a related task, in the service of the victims & their families or friends , the first-responders & everyone involved in investigating this callous crime.
Please be vigilant for "fact-free" claims about the tragedy, no matter their sources! You can help stomp on any confusion or outright lies quickly, with the help of Snopes site! (www dot snopes dot com, or see below)
Snopes has set up a page cataloging rumors and gossip, providing the nugget of truth--if any--in dozen of circulated stories. To help your family, friends or acquaintances who may be confused by irresponsible rumors, please refer them to Snopes' new page focusing on the marathon tragedy:
http://www.snopes.com/politics/conspirac
Please pray with me: “Thank you, dear Lord, for protecting so many runners and bystanders Monday afternoon, so that now we mourn & pray for hundreds where thousands might have been killed or grievously injured.
Lord, Great Physician, help everyone involved! May all victims of the Boston Marathon bombings recover as fully as possible. May You be with them & with their family & friends during this tragic time. Help them please in even their worst hours to believe that Your tender Love always surrounds them. And each one of us who can only mourn or pray or hold a hand.
Lord, bless and guide all first-responders, surgeons & care-givers, and both local & national investigators. Of Your mercy, help them all to be at the top of their game. In Your Son's Name. Amen."
----------------------------------------
Snopes site http://www.snopes.com/ http://www.snopes.com/politics/conspirac
Welcome to snopes.com, the definitive Internet reference source for urban legends, folklore, myths, rumors, and misinformation. Use the search box above to locate your item of interest, or click one of the icons below to browse the site by category.
To Contact the Snopes site: http://www.snopes.com/cgi-bin/comments/w
"Be wise as serpents and innocent as doves"---Matthew 10:16b
Friends: If you choose to respond and must do so "anonymously" courtesy of with LJ's software or yours, first I apologize and second I suggest signing your name. I vet all incoming comments frequently & will immediately release anything submitted by someone I know.
- Current Location:At home with my 1st 'cold' in yrs. Weird.
- Current Mood:
sad - Current Music:"Sweet Caroline"
I had a delightful Sunday-before-Christmas, followed by a particularly nice Christmas Eve which included Candlelight Service at my church, St Philips Lutheran, followed by a late Christmas Eve Special itle "One Christmas Story: People Rich in Spirit" on location in Reading, PA, on CBS. All segments of the special may be found a http://odysseynetworks.org/holy-days-and-h
(I didn't get to bed until 3AM, which may explain why I didn't see Santa Claus.)
Yesterday, Christmas Day, began well at 10 AM., at which point first still in bed and then after getting up I thanked God for His Love bestowed on us from the beginning and then again in the human form of His Son. Following that, were heartfelt thanks for dear friends both here in Delaware and other friends I know entirely via your emails, list posts, an occasional greeting card or via your books and stories. After that, came small but significant "events" or bits of "news" which have popped up over the last couple of weeks: especially an unexpected offer of help & the sudden appearance of something I thought lost.
However by 1PM I was feeling vaguely "icky". I watched one of the continuous reruns of "A Christmas Story" on TBS intent on doing at least that before they stopped their annual 24 hour marathon. However, I decided that at wasn't in the right place mentally or physically to watch my usual Christmas DVDs--beginning as always with the definitive Alistair Sim version of "A Christmas Carol", being fairly certain that I would have to stop watching part way through any DVD that I started. (I suspected the same impending fate with holiday music.)
I had already chosen not to put up my artificial 4 foot Christmas tree, due to a lack of room and the fact that either Khiva or Vartha burrowed into the container, extracted a clear piece of tinsel, swallowed it and then disposed of it in less festive format. I did place a bunch of very realisti eucalyptus ranches in a vase near the door, and set up a 15 inch tree I don't remember buying on the cabinet that visitors would face when coming into the apartment.
I gave my two cats, Khiva and Vartha, their Christmas dinner: 1.very fancy canned cat food, 2. part of a tiny carton of "cat milk", and 3. a tiny dish of Pounce treats for dessert. Khiva ate the entire dish of canned cat food. Vartha went through about a third of the treats before calling it quits. Both ignored the "milk".I wasn't up to re-heating the store rotisseried chicken which I'd optimistically taken from the freezer and had allowed to thaw, much less any "fixings", so I chose to put off their prep and consumption until today. Fortunately, I still had the "broccoli with garlic" filled container from a local Chinese take-out to nibble on. I love that stuff! Wish I knew exactly how their cook seasons the sauce.
I spent the rest of Christmas Day trying to catch up & finish my annual Advent reading of Norah Lofts' "How Far to Bethlehem" (still not completed), sipping iced tea, patting cats, responding to the first couple of several Christmas e-Greetings, trying on a nap for size, remaking my bed with a new blanket, and looking for cheery Christmas articles/videos in the online news. Oh, yes! Also reciting virtually every line and lyric of Seuss's "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" during an unsuspected showing of the original
I went to bed very early an with some relief, vowing to try celebrating my Christmas Day all over again when I got up this morning.
(Dreams involving trying to walk from one side of Newark, DE, where I lived and worked for over three decades, to my home on the other side of town, via a maze of downtown construction and new stores I'd never seen before, newspaper reporters wanting to interview me (?), and people who may have been temporally and geographically displaced Soviet spies (!).
So here I am, arising even later today and still only half way through my morning caffeine, juice and meds. Cats needing patting, needing laps to sit on, needing sniffing of whatever I have in my hands, etc, has slowed me down some but in a good way. ^_^ ^_^ :-D And so begins my Christmas Take Two--not unlike the hobbits of Tolkien with their customary "second breakfast".
I'm frankly, very glad that the Newark Senior Center groups chose not to meet today. For one thing, I would have needed to be up at 5:30AM, If I'd gotten up then for Paratransit, I probably would have missed those Soviet agents searching for me inside a construction site at the corner of Academy Street & Delaware Avenue. (It was okay--traffic was getting through fine both ways, thanks to the canal boats guided by wooden rails on the water surface.)
This time, I think I'll get my celebration of Christmas Day right! Just a couple more meds, a few links to be embedded, not eaten--I'll heat up a Panera cranberry-walnut bagel instead a very important thank you note with some catching up to a dear friend mailing messages to you guys that this post is here, and then back to my yearly routine.
Christmas Food Court Flash Mob, Hallelujah Chorus
by AlphabetPhotography•
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
Christmas Flash Mob by Journey of Faith at South Bay Galleria
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
Carlson School of Management Flash Mob, Deck the Halls
by UniversityofMinn•
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
Flash Mob Choir: A special Northern Ireland welcome Published on Dec 20, 2012
Watch the full story of the family and hear what they thought of their welcome home here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ylsBNWo
http://www.youtube-nocookie.
Possibly more comments later!
- Current Location:Apartment living room-- "Office Corner"
- Current Mood:
cheerful - Current Music:"Mary, Did You Know?"
Thanksgiving for the U.S. was Nov 22 2012.
My sort-of-Thanksgiving was Friday, Nov 23 2012.
In the Past.
My family would give a toast at the holidays each year which was more of a wish/prayer/hope for things to be better the following year. Sadly our desire for things to improve in the future never seemed to work out as we wanted. I lost my last family over a decade ago. Since then, I’ve tried celebrating Thanksgiving and Christmas with friends and their families but I always end up more depressed than I do when alone for the day—so I don’t do that anymore.
Re “thanksgiving”, I’ve been reminded many times recently that proper courtesy toward God is to praise and thank Him—specifically to attend to these duties first—before moving on to petitionary prayers, followed by being still. (Psalm 46:10, “Be still & know that I am God.”)
Is it possible to be praise- and thank-challenged? Not really of course, but I sure act like I am. Most of the time, I begin prayers with something like, “Help!” I’ve been working on this—just not making much progress. Given all of His blessings, not least of which is having been created by Him because He wanted to and then always being loved by Him even when I mess up, why is it so difficult for me to find reasons to praise Him before I say anything else?
The Previous Day, aka the day other people call “Thanksgiving”.
As I’ve done for over a decade now, I resolved ahead to ignore Thanksgiving. This year, I did watch more of the Macy’s Parade than I usually do but I didn’t see the whole thing. Having been dubiously rewarded by a glimpse of Justin Bieber—which provided my first data on his appearance—I lost the little interest I had in the parade and turned off the sound. Time to get caught up on various tasks.
“Ignoring The Day” went well until J from Stephen Ministry called me that afternoon. She said that she wanted to bring something over. Was that okay with me? I said, yes, of course! I love talking to J every Thursday morning—it’s one of the high points of my week! But I suspected that this time she was on more of a mission to feed me T-day related food than to keep me company.
I was right. A half hour later, J came through the door burdened with a Boston Market shopping bag. In it was the expected and a few not-so-expected—turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, corn, deviled eggs, cranberry sauce, a piece of corn bread, apple pie and pumpkin pie. No steaming hot coffee but she did hand me a new mug. It has “Hope” written all over it and Jean decorated it with tiny sparkly-gold poinsettias and a plaid grosgrain ribbon.
Wow! A full—more than full dinner! I thanked her and hugged her and offered her a spiced apple candle in a jar I had been saving for no particular reason. She left almost immediately—drawn back to her house or a relative’s house by the waiting presence of either guests or perhaps hosts.
I was soon alone. Regardless of my efforts to avoid such a scenario, I was also facing a kitchen counter full of Thanksgiving reminders. I began crying as I put things away and heated up my holiday dinner. Never for a minute did I regret sweet J’s kindness! But like a spoiled child, I wanted what I wanted—and that was company not food.
November 23 aka Not-Black-Friday.
The Dream.
I had a long and vivid dream in the wee hours of Friday morning, in which I was an Antebellum spinster living with her widower father. Every week, we both had guests over to our home. For him, the men of the community would gather, smoke cigars and discuss local politics and farm equipment. I hosted a ladies’ sewing and gossiping group at the same time but in a different part of the house. Several women were rude to another woman because she hadn’t attended the last couple of meetings. Furniture kept disappearing but I was the only one who noticed.
I woke up from the dream, very glad it was over. Even “inside the dream” while most everything seemed as it should be, part of my “modern self” felt uncomfortable about the things that perfectly polite and well-meaning people were saying around me. Their sensibilities weren’t mine which made me uneasy. Even while still dreaming, I sensed something was wrong. Was it me or them? Either way, something was off. I was grateful to wake up.
Oh, good. You’re awake.
Soft fur brushed my hand within a minute of my awakening. My Siamese cat Khiva was on the bed and already maneuvering to get a full body message. As always, I was delighted to comply. … Mmm. … Nice. … A pair of contented sighs. Isn’t it wonderful that cats and dogs like to be patted and humans just happen to like touching warm fur? Almost as if Someone had planned it.
Leaves.
Once Khiva let me stand up, I decided to look out my side bedroom window. Let me confess up front that I’ve never been a fan of autumn leaves. To me, when leaves start turning scarlet and gold, all I can think about is that the trees will be bare within weeks and then the weather will get cold and the precipitation treacherous. Given my balance problem, I’ve fallen more times than I care to remember—and that’s without snow and ice on the ground. Like I really need an additional challenge?
However last week when I looked out the same window, for the first time something “clicked”. Several gold-leafed trees maybe 50 years away and lining the edge of Arundel had begun dropping their load. The leaves scattered on the grass bordering the road had reminded me of a frosting of snow. Or maybe the touch of gold leaf—so well named!—on the still green groundcover. I went to see if the leaves were still there. They pretty much were, if less of them than before. Cool!
The Greyhound.
Before I had a chance to turn away, movement on the opposite side of the road caught my attention. Was that a greyhound running down the sidewalk over there? What was it doing out alone? No human followed after—they would have to have been running to keep up. Or was it not a greyhound? It was difficult to be sure thanks to the distance and the tree branches blocking the view.
With that, the animal veered into the quiet road, heading in the general direction of my apartment. Wow! It was a doe! I had only seen deer here twice since moving in, so I was thrilled to be given another chance.
The doe reached the narrow median just as a car swept down the road on its way to Limestone. Oh no! I was on the verge of praying for the deer when doe and driver saw each other. The car slowed. The doe bounded past in front of it with at least ten feet to spare. Then she swerved to head around my building, on a hooved trajectory that would take her into the woods bordering the apartment complex. I hurried out of the bedroom, hoping to catch a second glimpse of the deer when she ran across the lawn below my balcony. Too slow. Too late. But she had reached safety, and that was all that mattered.
Cat roadblock.
I turned from the balcony windows to find myself half-surrounded by a feline roadblock. Khiva and Vartha both looked up at me expectantly. Oops! Looked like I was “on the clock”. Thanking God for this too, the last of my blessings for that morning, I crouched down to pet both of them simultaneously. Under their tutelage, I’ve developed the knack.
My early Friday thanks-giving was over. On to the day’s duties.
- Current Location:Surrounded by things needing doing.
- Current Mood:
contemplative - Current Music:"Be Still" CD for contemplative prayer.
I haven't participated in a NaNoWriMo for about three years now, since I already have several files filled with manuscripts waiting to be completed. "The Gryphon & the Basilisk" made a huge jump forward, thanks to a NaNoWriMo. Four other manuscripts were originally NaNo projects which are currently just a whisker away from completion--namely, "Marooned", "Da Boid, da Tree-Rat, 'n' da Loser", and my family memoir. The fourth not-quite-finished NaNo manuscript, "The Peace Bride", made it past the traditional 50,000 word goal but it still lacks something like 2/5 of its story. (I really -love- PB's beginning & would so love to finish it some day!)
Even though I am no longer an official NaNoWriMo participant these days, I continue to support NaNoWriMo's objectives & philanthropy each year. More on this later, including links to entries describing what The Office of Letters and Light people do behind the scenes, and how you can help . As you'll see, you can help out even if you don't write or else can't devote all of a November to writing,
For now, the extract below was snatched from my November 21 2008 blog entry. Keep in mind that to officially "win" NaNoWriMo, you need to write 50,000 words by November 30, or approximately 1,667 words a day. Keep something firmly in mind from the instant you begin: Editing is for afterwards! One of NaNoWriMo's chief purposes is to help authors ignore their Inner Editor, open themselves to inspiration, -and- -just- WRITE- ! December through however months afterwards is reserved for going back to the beginning and editing. Yes, you'll have a lot still to do but in many ways editing can be easier than trying to decide how best to get from Point A to Point B in the plot (or maybe geographically), or how to have Millicent meet Daulphrey, which one of them is attracted to the other one first, what they choose do about, and --oh yeah, the biggie--when does the countess suspect & what/who tipped her off? Aren't you glad your inspiration was at fever pitch (courtesy of no Inner Editor) so you were able to blow through those snarls in a day and a half?
On an average NaNo day, I could write those 1667 words without needing to be in Author Anguish by virtue of thinking of little else but pushing full steam ahead. If gripped totally by my "muse" I could write as much as 5000 in one day. (Well, okay, not often. ;-P ) If one scene wasn't working, I would type in a brief synopsis of what that scene needed to accomplish, and then shift to a more welcoming scene. It may sound totally random & anxiety-producing--And some days, it is.--but it can also be totally fun! The strangest bits of inspiration can pop into your head when that tiresome Inner Editor is locked away in the highest turret in the old manse. Of course on those very rare occasions when I cranked out 4-5000 words in one day, virtually nothing else got done. Okay. Yeah. I did some breathing, etc.
The one thing to keep in mind: No matter if you write 500, 5000, or 50,000 words by the end of the month, that's 500, 5000, or 50,000 words you didn't have 30 days earlier! As soon as you write anything with your "Inner Editor" locked away, you're already "won NaNo". And more importantly, you've just strengthened your creativity. Trust me--there's no downside.
But onward to my whimsical entry from NaNoWriMo 2008.
Are you desperate to extend your NaNoWriMo word count? May I suggest:
A long and heartfelt dedication to everyone you have ever known, with the reasons why they are included on the multi-page list. Think acceptance speeches at the Oscars;
A Table of Contents (Make up names for your chapters like the descriptive ones they used for book titles in the 19th century. examples: "Chapter the Third, in which Alice sees a White Rabbit Running by and Follows Him Down a Rabbit Hole;
Chapter the Fourth in Which Darth Vader Cuts off Luke's Hand, Announces That He is the Youth's Father and Actually Expects Luke to join Forces --if you'll excuse the expression-- With Him on the Spot...)
An Author Biography, some of which may be accurate;
Unnecessary Footnotes that can be written without much thought.
* The song Ruthie was humming to her baby was of course "American Pie", in the arrangement used by Don McLean on the such-and-such date album, the words of which refer to the plane crash in which....yada yada.
Maps don't count toward NaNo, unless you care to make a list of the names of cities, rivers and interstate routes which would be printed on them, or else make a list of the furniture in the locked room in which the body was found. However, you can write up a thorough description of the map that will be included in your book in the hardback edition. Don't forget to describe the background colors and any decorations or borders.
Transcribe dialogue of whatever TV show you are watching when you are supposed to be writing. (A-hem!) If your story takes place on 21st century Earth, one or more of your characters can be watching the show. If two of your characters are watching the show, you can interpolate lines of their dialogue with lines of dialogue from the show. Since this will be confusing to the reader, be sure to use attributions for all of the dialogue. Hint: the proper attribution for the overheard dialogue from a TV show should always include the name of the show, the date, the screenwriter and the name of the actor who delivered the lines, for maximum word-padding and so that it is clear that you are not plagiarizing. This additional information can be placed in a footnote if you like. (See Footnotes, above).
If you are writing an historic novel or a fantasy novel, you can have the character dream all of the events in the TV episode. Don't forget to have them wonder for hours after awakening about the meaning of their dream and how it applies to fighting for Napoleon and/or releasing the captured unicorn.
If you fall asleep at your keyboard and type gibberish, do not delete it. Wrap a scene around it in which the protagonist discovers a mysterious message written in code and tries to translate it.
What is not allowed: Scanning in a page of your favorite novel using OCR software, then using Replace All to change all of the character names and locations to people and places in your own story. Cutting and pasting the result into your NaNo manuscript.
(Seriously, someone created a writing exercise in which you are instructed to do something like this with the first couple of paragraphs of a favorite book. You also need to change the verbs, if I remember correctly.Then you use that as the nucleus for a completely different story. I've always wanted to try this but I've never had the time.)
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P.S. Goodreads Quote of the Day
Write what you know. That should leave you with a lot of free time.
Howard Nemerov
- Current Location:About to "clean for Jean"!
- Current Mood:
tired - Current Music:"Paperback Writer"
Not long after I wrote my previous blog entry last night, the power went out. That would have been about 12:45AM. Went, came back on for 5 seconds, then really went out. This is standard in this apt. Quite curious.
I tooled around lighting a handful of pre-placed tea lights in very safe places & turned on my smallish flashlight that kind of converts to a mini-lamp. Looked out through the balcony door. Dark everywhere close by--but a brightness on the horizon past the highway, suggesting communities on the other side of Limestone RD might have power.
Dozed in living room easy chair for about two hours, with Khiva somewhat restlessly dozing as well on my lap. Kept expecting power to come back on. Gave up & went to bed. When I woke up this morning--quite late--the power was back on. Outside, there's a sheen on the grass, indicating small patches of standing water. A few small branch-lets down. Saw a couple of larger birds (crows? small vultures?) on the edge of the culvert. I suspect they may have found a small drowning victim. :( That's about it.
Fresh pix of OCNJ flooding, from Ocean City Patch (local newspaper) I can't work out the locations of the first two pix. I hear that residents have not been allowed back in yet.
.
Working now to get the computer back to where it was. Firefox has stopped working for me in the last three weeks. And if Chrome saves a snapshot of your previous session & offers it to you on reboot, I never see it asking me if I want it. I want my Firefox back!
This one looks almost normal! Unless I should be seeing a big piece of boardwalk.
Sipping green tea. Stomach & nerves neither 100 per cent.
==================================
OCNJ TV UPDATE! 1:47pm
I just saw a news interview with Mayor Gillian of Ocean City NY. He said that the waters of the bay and ocean met in the middle of the island last night. He described the damage as "devastating". An aide said that there about two feet of water -inside- most downtown businesses.
No pictures of the boardwalk. I may have just missed them or maybe there's nothing to show.
Residents will not be allowed in any earlier than tomorrow. Gillian said, I think, that just under 10,000 people live on the island year around. I'm not sure about that. In any case, please pray for them! (And for me. I've never been in OCNJ for more than two weeks at a time--but it will always be my home, even my hometown.)
SNIFF!
-----------------------------------
P.S. The power went out again at about 11:30 PM. I went to bed--as I should have anyway. Wednesday is the day I go to the Newark Senior Center. I hope they're open!
- Current Location:at computer
- Current Mood:
sleepy & anxious. Really. - Current Music:soft swish of car tires out on road
Issued by The National Weather Service
Mon, Oct 29, 2012, 4:37 PM EDT
THE FLOOD WARNING CONTINUES FOR THE RED CLAY CREEK AT WOODDALE. * UNTIL TUESDAY AFTERNOON... OR UNTIL THE WARNING IS CANCELLED. * AT 4:30 PM MONDAY THE STAGE WAS MISSING. * FLOOD STAGE IS 7.0 FEET. * MAJOR FLOODING IS FORECAST. * FORECAST... RISE ABOVE FLOOD STAGE BY THIS EVENING AND CONTINUE TO RISE TO NEAR 10.2 FEET BY AFTER MIDNIGHT TONIGHT. THE RIVER WILL FALL BELOW FLOOD STAGE BY TOMORROW MORNING. * IMPACT... AT 8.5 FEET... THE PARKING LOT AT AMATEK COMPANY FLOODS.
I used to live very close to Red Clay Creek. So glad I don't any more!
Delmarva Power has some outage maps at their website but it's impossible to copy and paste them. Here's the essence:
| 501-1000 Customers Out --- On the other side of Limestone Rd |
| 51-500 Customers Out ---- On my side of the road |
Several sirens out on Limestone just now.
Information via a different display,
http://www.delmarva.com/home/emergency/m
It looks like everybody--or 5000+ people of everybody anyway--in North Star area & along Paper Mill Rd is without power. The two locations touch each other, border the PA line, and are more or less between here & Newark.
In my immediate area, they are showing their “multiple outages” symbol but this symbol doesn’t provide a total number of outages.
The areas near Brandon & Karen's, Demaris & John's and KB & Bodge's are no worse re outages than here.
Thank God for light! You may remember He did that one pretty early on. :)
A bunch more sirens. Hate sirens. I always wonder & worry about what someone is going through.
Resolutely walking away from the computer now.
- Current Location:heading toward kitchen
- Current Mood:
hungry - Current Music:"Eat it!" (spoof of Michael Jackson's "Beat It"
It's been raining like crazy of course. I've been out on the balcony twice and out the front & back doors of the building once each in the last two hours. I've learned that:
Leaning over the balcony railing to look down will get the back of my head soaked from the water dripping of the metal awning;
The balcony floor is only wet on its outside half. As I found when I walked out to the front door's covered landing, that would be because the wind is driving the rain toward the side/front of my building. My apartment is in the back. Just one bedroom window faces toward the wind for now.
The culvert is full nearly to its bank with frothing and swirling water as expected. Thank God, it does flow toward the bridge & highway--which of course it should. Even so, the culvert's bank is brimful at the section running past my bedroom, the part farthest away from the highway. Back there, it's more like 10 yards (?) away.
Speaking of highways, Limestone Road has traffic on it. Didn't these folks hear about Gov Markell's 2nd Stage Emergency Regs? Only emergency and maintenance vehicles are supposed to be out. Maybe they need to have a higher fine. I think it's just $150(?). I wouldn't risk getting caught but obviously there's some who would.
No mail. Hardly a surprise.
Earlier I saw three neighbors in storm gear coming back from "doing reconnaissance" either in the direction of Limestone Rd's small bridge or more likely into the woods along my side of the complex. If anyone has been out walking dogs, and I'm sure they have, the dogs have been quiet. Just getting the job done & getting back inside fast. (So glad cats don't need walking!)
Karen, I so hope you didn't need to go in to work today! You too, Brandon. And everyone else of course! Be safe, all!
I know that KB is off, regardless. I'm wondering about the sheep at Greenbank Mill & Phelps Farm Museum. If they were left outside lest they drown in the lower level of the barn, the traditional wooden fence hurdles are probably partially down by now and the sheep who knows where.
Inside here, the cats have been asleep for hours. This is after Khiva woke me up earlier than I wanted, in order to cadge a lengthy patting session. She's ensconced in her small cat bed in the hallway, carefully positioned over the warm area (where, maybe, the hot water pipe runs under the floor from the water heater toward the bathroom & powder room). Vartha found a half-filled box sitting high up inside the study closet and is sound asleep there. Though the two can't see each other in their locations, they're actually just a couple of yards apart.
I cooked chicken with small red & yellow bell pepper dish less than an hour ago. I used Italian seasonings & topped it with a mixture of tomato paste & Campbell's mushroom with garlic soup. Haven't even tasted it. My stomach is bouncing a bit. Not an anxiety attack. Just nerves, but unpleasant. Even so, I think I'm going to take a tiny piece of my anti-anxiety meds when I finish this.
Let's see. What else... Oh, ComCast aka Xfinity cable robo-called me a couple of hours ago mostly to state the obvious but partially to reassure us. Someone on TV or at the Weather Station site advised people to unplug most appliances & other high energy-users when the power goes off, to help prevent a power surge when the power comes back on. It makes sense I suppose, but I've never heard that advice or done anything like that when the power went off in a thunder storm. Naturally, the desktop is plugged into a surge-suppressor power strip. I don't think anything else is though, not even the laptop. Still, I may unplug my scanner since it's currently refusing to talk to the desktop anyway. And the three remote storage devices.
The TV is still working. Ever since I moved away from home, I always leave the TV on with the sound off 24/7 for the illusion of not being alone. After I take my meds, I may turn up the sound for a while & catch the latest news. Don't want to watch while this anxious.
Actually, the sights & sounds through the balcony door pretty much says it all. Later when it gets dark, updates via computer & TV will be more important.
Bible Study was canceled for tonight of course. Teri kindly emailed me about that. I didn't finish the lesson but I'll probably work on it in a little while. I have a "shiny new" Bible purchased at a huge discount from ChristianBooks.com (?) which arrived here less than a week ago. I still love-love-love my C.S.Lewis Bible, but this one (Ryrie NIV Study Bible) has footnotes on its footnotes & some pretty fair maps. Each Bible has a place now--physically here near the computer and spiritually in my life. Between them they fit all my needs. Anyone need a used Bible? I've only got a dozen.
Oh. The cats are awake! I think they heard me typing about them. ;) Vartha is on "the special flat place", and I'm on massage duty.
Leaving you with a nice non-storm-related pic, courtesy of Stephen Ministry's Jean's roses & Karen Zinnato's camera.
(I still haven't uploaded a camera app to my new phone. Frankly, not sure how.)
- Current Location:Living room just feet from balcony screen door
- Current Mood:
stressed - Current Music:What's New Pussy Cat?
Ocean City & Somers Point
CBS 1PM report from Somers Point NJ. (Somers Pt is on the inland side of “the bay” or “sound” directly opposite Ocean City.) The reporter said they drove past Smitty’s Crab Shack on SP’s water edge and discovered that the boats were all gone--as were the docks. And Sandy, the last I heard, was then still nearly 200 miles away from making landfall. (transcribed from tv)
---
http://sbynews.blogspot.com/2012/10/hurr
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 28, 2012
Hurricane Sandy Floods Somers Point New Jersey Tonight
(pix) http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-5MnP7z4iZS8/UI
Here's what it looked like last night during the first of three high tide/Sandy "collaborations", on Bay Ave in Somers Point, New Jersey.
---
9:45 a.m.
There's flooding on the Garden State Parkway southbound entering at Exit 29 - US 9 in Somers Point. Entrance ramp closed due to standing water.
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Another site with S Jersey info and a picture:
http://www.thebassbarn.com/forum/showthr
BillV
Any idea how Somers Point looks? I am curious as to how the storm surge is impacting the marinas along Somers point.? Anyone have any idea or been down that direction?
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BillV "Options" OCNJ______
Today, 09:33 AM #2
mwhutchinson
storm surge
FEMA has the buildings across the street listed at 8' 6". The storm surge is 10'. Don't think it's going to work out well.
(“Bay Ave is Closed” pix -- refers to Somer's Point's Bay Avenue)
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http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2012/10/h
Hurricane Sandy: New Jersey shares social media reports of flooding, power outages
By Jen Connic / Website Staff
on October 29, 2012 at 12:55 PM, updated October 29, 2012 at 12:59 PM Email | Print
Bart Brooks / Website Staff
NJ.com user twostepp82 posted this photo of waves at Ocean Grove.
Hurricane Sandy photos from NJ.com users 10-29-12 gallery (25 photos)
Hurricane Sandy was still hundreds of miles away from New Jersey, but the storm was already having an effect with high winds and big waves.
New Jersey residents were sharing reports from their neighborhoods on social media networks, including Twitter. They shared photos of large waves and flooding in some areas, especially along the Jersey Shore. Others reported how they already were without power.
Hurricane Sandy strengthened overnight as it moved closer to New Jersey. The storm is expected to make landfall in central to southern New Jersey this evening and could be the strongest storm to ever hit New Jersey.
Below is a sampling of the reports New Jersey residents are reporting on social media:
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Places in Ocean County also were experiencing flooding as the storm approached.
@njdotcom Here is Bay Ave. in Ocean City, NJ. #Sandy pic.twitter.com/uS2rRT0Z
(Here is Bay Ave in OCNJ)
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Hurricane Sandy: Flooding, evacuations, power outages and more -- latest updates
By Star-Ledger and NJ.com Staff Report on October 29, 2012 at 9:55 AM, updated October 29, 2012 at 12:43 PM
http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2012/10/h
…12:00 p.m.: OUTAGE UPDATE: Early on, the number of outages has fluctuated a little — Public Service Electric & Gas reported 2,100 customers without power at noon, down from 4,000 or so about an hour before.
Meanwhile in Jersey Central Power & Light territory, the number of outages ticked upwards from 8,000 to 11,000, thanks to growing numbers of outages in Ocean County, Monmouth County and Morris County, where more than 4,400 customers were without power. (Ocean City is in Ocean County—like duh. ;-P )
Atlantic City Electric's outage map reported 1,800 customers out around Atlantic City and 3,000 or so strung along the Garden State Parkway between Sea Isle City and Ocean City.
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Photo Gallery: Storm on Monday in Ocean City
A morning high tide leaves most of the island underwater.
By Douglas Bergen | 9:53 am | 59 comments
Links to live cams: http://oceancity.patch.com/articles/link
(I couldn't get these to work. Hardly a surprise.)
A half hour later: Oh, wait! Here's two working! I think we can safely say, based on this, that OC is not entirely underwater as someone blogged earlier. :) Phew!
On the other hand, maybe this is old footage? (I wish the cams I usually view were working--I know they're live. (http://www.sunsetcam.com/cams/occams.htm
)
"This cam is located at 948 Boardwalk (Pier 9)."
http://50.192.252.37/axis-cgi/mjpg/video.c
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Fourteenth St Fishing Pier, OCNJ (Note the water -inside- the dunes. We're currently around low tide.)
http://50.192.238.53/axis-cgi/mjpg/video.c
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DE & NJ - Delaware Memorial Bridge and Garden State Parkway near Somer's Point
10:38 a.m.
Speed and lane restrictions are in effect on the Delaware Memorial Bridge between South Jersey and Delaware. Sustained winds are currently in the 35 mph range, according to the Delaware River and Bay Authority. The speed limit has been reduced to 25 mph and the outside lanes of both spans of the bridge are closed to traffic. The Authority may ban tractor-trailers trucks, motorcycles, and other high-profile vehicles subject to high winds, if sustained winds exceed 40-mph.
There's flooding on the Garden State Parkway southbound entering at Exit 29 - US 9 in Somers Point.
-----------I love Stan Rogers' "Mary Ellen Carter" which speaks to me when things are less than great.
I send its wisdom to those on the Jersey coast & elsewhere who are fighting flood and wind,
"Rise again! Rise Again!
Though your heart it be broken, or life about to end.
No matter what you've lost, be it a home, a love, a friend,
Like the "Mary Ellen Carter" rise again!"
http://www.mp3lyrics.org/s/stan-rogers/t
www.youtube.com/watch?v=fT-aEcPgkuA
- Current Location:Safe in living rm
- Current Mood:
More anxious than last night - Current Music:Stan Rogers' "Mary Ellen Carter"
Probable Answer: Get real!
Which is a problem for this fantasy-writer. ;-) Much as I wish otherwise, NOAA predictions still show the Mid-Atlantic's unwelcome guest heading right toward the southern Jersey shore--including my beloved Ocean City--shortly followed by hitting Philly & NYC. And, oh yeah, our neighborhood. She's a bit eager to arrive--Traditional "Mischief Night" isn't until Tuesday. But then Sandy seems unlikely to settle for soaping car windows. Papering trees on the other hand...
Borrowing heavily from NOAA, here:
Look for the light orange in the following NOAA graphic of predicted rainfall. That curvy bit at the top of Delaware is home to me and many of my friends. See the "9.23" a bit lower? That's what I call a "Not Good". Obviously lots of people around here would agree.
At this point, I am as ready as I can be. New Castle County DE is at Stage 1 emergency level. Gov Markell will switch that to Stage 2 at something like 5AM, at which time only emergency & maintenance will be allowed on DE roads. The last I heard, people who live within 3/4 mile of the S Jersey or Delaware coastlines were given mandatory evacuation orders for this afternoon. Virtually all transit systems in the area have been shut down. Naturally schools are closed & shelters have been opened.
I'm worried about my friends and praying that they will all get through this without injury or property damage: Demaris & John, KB & Bodge, Brandon & Karen, Lorena & Judy. So many others! If you're inclined to pray, please say a few words to our Lord for them.
I wonder what things will look like in the morning. Right now, I feel I should shut the balcony door entirely but I also would like a last bit of fresh air before being shut up tight. Oh, I tried to settle the chairs, plants, shell boxes & other balcony stuff as soon as I got home from church.
If my cats, Khiva & Vartha, get anxious during the storm, I've planned a catnip party for them--vintage "Chat Noir" from their catnip bottle. A dry cab for me, thank you.
Last minute addition:
Whoa! It's about 2AM, and a big gust came in from the balcony, making poor Vartha jump. She was getting a massage on "the special flat place" (the hastily-emptied TV tray near my desktop) when wind came through the screened door. Earlier, Khiva was in my lap taking a half-nap while getting her ears rubbed. I do love how cats (and dogs) want patting while humans like to rub soft warm fur. Neat! Like someone planned it that way.
Updates as long as there's power.
- Current Location:350(?) miles from Sandy's center
- Current Mood: anxious
- Current Music:"They Call the Wind Maria"
Karen Medeiros Zinnato took this picture last spring. The stream runs through the largish woods which flank one whole side of my "new" apartment complex. New in the sense that I moved here on February 25.
At the time, I fully expected to take many walks in the woods in the late spring or during any cool days over the summer. Never happened.
Instead, I've had a constant stream of mostly business-related chores to deal with. The more I work on them, the more they seem to grow in number. Some of my earliest "To Do's" are actually still on my list, having now graduated to conundrums. Conundrums floating about on a slowly growing stream of chores. Most of those require transportation or physical assistance that I haven't access to.
Maybe I'll be able to persuade Karen or her husband, Brandon, to take more pictures.
Oh, I -have- seen deer twice from my balcony! The first time, maybe 6 weeks ago, it was just a doe. She was eating grass from the lawn and eventually climbed down into the culvert amidst the fringe of trees maybe 30(?) yards away my balcony. I could just make her out with my 50+ year old binoculars.
The second visit by deer was just a couple of weeks ago. I thought I saw a deer and walked over to the glass doors to get a better look. That's when I discovered a herd of -eight- deer were munching on the grass!
The lead deer, a doe, was right in the middle of the lawn and the others formed a straggling line behind her--with the one furthest back only just outside the edge of the trees.
Two of them were half-grown ("yearling"?) fawns. One of these would barely grab a mouthful of grass before bounding through and around the rest of the herd. I think he was trying to entice the other yearling to play but his cousin was more interested in food. I watched them as long as I could stand there, and was very glad that no one came out to walk their dog,etc. Tres cool! :)
- Current Location:At computer, close enough to balcony doors to peek out
- Current Mood: tired
