The gang's all here

We made it just fine. It was definitely a loud, loud night, but Jamie displayed her genius once again and found a battery-powered noisemaker machine that she cranked up on the "white noise" setting. It drowned out much of the lower-level wind sounds, although nothing can drown out the palpable impact of the biggest gusts.

We slept on and off all night, with me and Samantha in the master bed and Jamie/Jack on the inflatable mattress on the floor. It only took about an hour before I turned over to look at Samantha and saw two little feet. She had already turned upside down.

It's warm but not swelteringly so. The rain has slowed enough so that we can open up a couple of windows and get some air moving in the house. We turned the circuit breakers off last night so that no power surges would hurt our appliances/computer/TV/etc...

We don't anticipate power being restored for quite a while. Over the next couple of days we'll eat our food/water, check the radio for news and check on the neighbors. Best case scenario would be to be able to leave the city on Monday and head north somewhere, but that will require confirmation of clear roads and available gas.

I'm on a national wireless network card that I just got at the office last week -- good timing! My battery power is limited on the laptop so I don't plan on posting again today. Just wanted everyone to know we're fine and the intense storm-phase is over. Now it's time to take it easy, try to be as comfortable as possible, and wait to see the timeline for the city's restoration of basic services.

Later!