East Coast Happenings

[Diane Amberg]

So, Florence finished up dousing us with heavy rain, which we didn't need, and then finally moved on out.Those poor folks in the south will have to deal with the rising floods for sometime to come.Still no electricity in Wilmington (NC.) My girlfriend got back home, but what a mess she will have to deal with. I just can't imagine all the rotting food, downed trees, tons of debris,snakes all over the place, stranded pets and farm animals and on and on.Boy,am I spoiled.I don't know when our fire crews,both male and female, will finally be released to come home, or even how they will get back here; so many areas have been cut off. I hope you all are in good health and enjoying late garden produce and cooler weather. I'm ready for some cooler days and less humidity.

[Jane]

It looks like our cooler weather will be here tonight. Tomorrow only in the 70"s.

[Diane Amberg]

We just cooled off too. Just in time for the first official day of fall. It's raining here...again...and only about 65.M y girlfriend in Wilmington NC just got her electricity back on.  She's so happy. Now to get someone to get rid of the three big trees that came down in her yard. What a mess they have been having.

[Diane Amberg]

and so it is raining here...again.This time it's Michael's rain bands arriving here as it swings east. No wind to speak of, but we just don't need any more rain.  My yard has been ruined and the plants are drowning.
The Florida panhandle sure got hit hard didn't it? So sad.
  I just cleared out the last of my veggies for the season...made a big kettle of tom sauce to finish off the tomatoes and peppers. I surely will miss the fresh tomatoes.  We will really chill down here once this weather clears. Highs in the 50s and 40s at night. It looks like we might be headed for going from the air conditioner to the furnace with no break in between. Yuk. Have a nice day all.

[larryJ]

Good morning, Diane, I have been watching with interest about this storm.  I was thinking of you and hoping and praying that you would be okay.  Thanks for posting so we can know how you are doing.  Too bad about your vegie garden.  We never really got around to putting on in this year so I miss the fresh tomatoes also. 

Take care.
Larryj

[Diane Amberg]

We are going to be having really chilly weather coming down from Canada .It came blowing in a heckin' after Thursday night's storm rain finally cleared. Thank goodness we have a sump pump in our basement. The ground is so saturated it  can't take much more.  We brought in our house plants yesterday because they don't like 40s at night for long stretches. We have a grow light over a table in the basement where they will spend the winter. We managed to wrestle our huge Night Blooming Ceres to its winter home in front of our south facing living room triple window. It did love all the rain and had beautiful white flowers, as many as 7 at a time, scenting the whole yard several times during the summer. It's gotten so big that someday it will be too big for us to get through the living room door and then I don't know what we'll do.
We still have lots of animal visitors each night checking the back yard and deck for whatever they can scrounge. There are foxes,deer a skunk, raccoons, a possum and who know what else. Not surprising I guess, because even though we live in town, there is a large woods across the street from us. Have a great day.
Oh, and a warning for all...Do not accept any messages from  Hormel, it might be Spam! (Yuk,yuk)

[Diane Amberg]

We had 22 kids for Halloween on a beautiful cool fall evening yesterday. They had so much fun . On another note, the politics is upsetting me so much I can hardly stand it.The lies and partial truths, threats and misuse of government is really starting to make me actually feel sick. Sure, entry level jobs are a dime a dozen, but who can actually live a descent life on what they make at the local fast food joint. It wasn't meant to be that way. When they start cutting social security, that some seniors desperately need ,that will affect people of all parties, not just those"evil" Dems. Tariffs are just one more tax WE have to pay and the drug companies are out of control.I've been, as always,watching all the news channels and it's just amazing what is being said.Now people re going to start killing in Trump's name.Is a true Civil War next?Sending our own armed  military to the border to"help.''Just what are they going to be doing? And from where? Tanks? Shooting people from planes? So where is that promised wall? Shall we tear down the Statue of Liberty and cast it into bullets to kill "the enemy" with? and who decides who the enemy is this week? When will it be you....or me?  Why not just cancel the entire Constitution and all the amendments and have a "The biggest, meanest best armed bully wins" form of government.  It just makes me, a staunch Independent, sick!  As always, I'll vote next week for my usual mixed bag of politicians, but I won't enjoy it one little bit.

[Diane Amberg]

So you've had some snow flurries? We've got rain for today and tonight with a drastic drop in temperature...might even have killing frost. Some of the leaves here have been beautiful, but many trees didn't color up well at all this year. Al has got the first batch at the curb for pickup and others covering the flower beds, as well as some saved for mulch for next year. He'll have to rake one or two more time before he's done.I have fire company meeting tonight and will be asking for help for our fire prevention awards night next Thursday. We will have our 30 winners from grades K-6,( and their families,) come to receive their awards, have photos taken, have refreshments and tour the  engine bays.
The Aetna Kids' Christmas party gets worked on next.
We have sold the station that has our big hall, so this will be the next to last kid's party there. After 2019, I'm not sure if, or where, we will build another fire house, or if we do, whether it will even have a big hall. It is all very uncertain at this point. Next year will be our 25th Children's Christmas party, so we will go out with a big one.
Have a wonderful day.

[Diane Amberg]

Winter came roaring in here on Thursday. In spite of being told it would be no big deal, we got 4.5 inches here in north Newark.It was really wet, sloppy, slippery stuff. The snow plows were caught off guard and had to beat feet fast to get up and running.The were many accidents with people sliding into each other.By 7PM it had changed to rain, but it was really awful.We had our fire prevention awards scheduled at the fire house, but people were brave, came out, and had a wonderful time.

[Diane Amberg]

Happy Thanksgiving to all. We are so cold here.Nobody is used to this yet.Have a wonderful day.