I have been sadly remiss in my blog updates this month. Hurricane Sandy came through almost three weeks ago, and here are my pictures. We actually came through the storm well – there was some coastal flooding up here in Maine, but that was a given for certain locations the second they mentioned the words ‘astronomical high tide’, so I don’t think anyone that flooded up here was shocked about it.
I will say, it was the most unique wind storm I can remember. It sounded like one constant gust. To the point where if I didn’t already sleep with ear plugs, I think I would have that night.
So, our only casualty was a panel in the back fence. Granted, it had pretty much been only hanging onto the bottom support for a couple of weeks before the storm (and the slats were rotting out), so I barely count that as storm damage. We did manage a pretty good pile of sticks and branches.
The most annoying thing to come out of the storm is that I’ve raked the back yard three separate times this Fall. I did it on 10/27 thinking that I’d rather get the leaves that were down out of there dry. That was about 11 bags worth. Of course, then there was the storm, so I got another eight or so bags worth the next Saturday. I say or so because I totally lost count because of the way they’re stacked in the garage. I’m recounting as I get them over to Mom’s house (15 bags so far), so I’ll have to update this when I can confirm the count.
The two annoying things with batch #2 were A: all the branches (both big and little) in there, and B: the extra leaves. I normally don’t have to rake the front and side yards because of how the wind normally functions on my street. Sandy dumped a whole lot of leaves where they normally don’t go, so I raked places I’ve never had to rake before.
And finally, Sandy didn’t actually take down all the leaves in the area (certainly not for lack of trying), so I had to rake again this weekend, which got me three more bags. The funny thing is, the cherry tree in the front yard (the only actual tree on the property) still hasn’t dropped its leaves yet, but as long as our regular wind patterns prevail, I won’t have to rake those. Definitely an odd raking season this year.
ETA: The grand total is 25 bags of leaves. Took three car trips to get them over to my mother’s house (and I kept two).
ETA, Part 2, 11/25/12 – Thanks to the oak tree next door, I was out raking again today. That would be another bag to the tally, as well as topping off the compost. Funnily enough, the cherry tree out front still hasn’t dropped anything, but the trees that feed the back yard are done, so this better be the last of it.