Irene's Shredding

One thing I love about hurricanes is the long drawn out warning of their arrival. How often do we get a week long heads up about a possibly devastating event? A massive counter clockwise storm slowly moving its way north is a breath of fresh air compared to a possible tornado in your neighborhood. Tornadoes are highly unpredictable and much more life threatening if you are not expecting one. And forget about predicting earthquakes. The only time you can accurately predict an earthquake is after the initial earthquake, because aftershocks are just smaller earthquakes. Volcanic eruptions are now easier to predict but not as precise as a hurricane. We all knew Hurricane Irene was going to hit on Sunday. With volcanoes, predictions are usually off by a few days resulting in angry villagers clamoring to go back to their homes near the base of an active volcano. You have to be tough to live along the "Ring of Fire." Good thing we live here along the East Coast. I would take sharks, ticks and hurricanes over earthquakes and volcanoes any day of the week.

One amazing thing about Hurricane Irene was how the wind literally shredded healthy green leaves and littered them absolutely everywhere. During the "peak" of the storm I rode my bike on the street to take some pictures and was glad that no one came with me. Because it's pretty stupid to ride your bike during a hurricane. At least I had my helmet on.

I rode to Frenchtown Park and expected to see numerous trees down across the trail. I counted just one. 
The wind made the water in the pond come alive as a quick downward thrust made the water quiver in all directions. That was something you don't see everyday.

 The above picture is from Beavertail Park, at the southern end of Jamestown. This is one of the best places to view waves during a hurricane.

The above picture is of Frenchtown Park pond during the peak of Hurricane Irene. 

Several times as I was riding home I heard a car's engine roar behind me. As I turned around to see the car, I saw nothing. The roaring noise of the wind as it shredded the leaves in the trees made me feel that I was being chased by a mad teen driver with a muffler problem. Sorry teen drivers. You deserve the bad rap anyway.

The best decision I made was to not ride my bike under a hanging wire on Frenchtown road. It was absolutely tempting but I decided not to "Lance Armstrong" my way under the live wire and took a longer route back home.

After heeding the warning to completely remove all belongings from our yard, I quickly rebuffed the bird feeder removal advice and put out a fresh batch of nectar for area hummingbirds. Multitudes of flowers must have been destroyed by the tropical force winds because an epic battle between five hummingbirds lasted for twenty minutes around the nectar. Zipping and zooming, whirring and chasing, it was actually cute. Like babies fighting. Not that I have seen babies fight, but if I did, I would break it up immediately. In the case of the hummingbirds, they hate sharing their nectar with other birds and are very territorial. During the past summer months though, a small bee would chase the hummingbird away and steal some nectar. I never understood why the hummingbird didn't just bite that bee in half and go back to feeding.

Overall, Hurricane Irene caught a lot of us off guard. I think one way to prepare for a hurricane is to go camping for a week. Then those camping skills will come in handy when the lights go out. Cooking on a camp stove, setting up tents and purifying your water are skills that are transferable to surviving without electricity. Unless the hurricane shreds your tent. That may call for an involuntary camping vacation at a hotel with complimentary breakfast. 

This is a Katydid on an oak tree in my backyard. It was probably wondering what was going on with the hurricane blowing through the area.

See the red fox? My kids saw it and took a picture. Probably a bit hungry after waiting out the hurricane.