This Catastrophe!

*Warning* Sarcastic post ahead. Hurricane Irene was devastating! We lost power for 5 minutes and we had a branch come down! They even closed the first day of school!!!!

Okay. I'm done being sarcastic.

It means nothing (nothing!) when they close school. School will be delayed with a DUSTING of snow. Imagine what it's going to be like this school year, if they close the first day (the first day!) of school. I'm not really complaining, I'm glad we have no school, but you have to see where I'm coming from. School is closed because some people have no power. Understandable. Now, since school is closed, Baltimore County will call homes to tell them that school is closed. Of course. Now, these people who we're closing school for, right? The ones with no power? Well, they have no power. Your thinking "yeah, I know that". But, they - never - get - the - message. Because - they - have - no - power. See? Kids stand outside for the bus for 20 minutes (It's the first day, so they'll already be out for at least 10 minutes anyways), the bus never comes, the parents drive them to school only to figure out that school is closed. Maybe some people will figure out, if people call them on their cell phones, that there is no school. But others won't.

Back to Hurricane Irene.

Did we get a hurricane last night? I never knew. I believe it "hit us" really early in the morning, so we were all in REM mode (REM: Rapid Eye Movement [I can't believe I didn't lose all my knowledge this summer :-D]). I'm feeling murderous at the weather people right now, who are still trying to make us believe that it is the end of the world and for ramping it up for all those places where it wasn't a huge issue. Yes, branches fell down here and yes, by the ocean, on as far east as you can go in the US, it was worse, but evacuating NYC? How would it be worse there than it was here? The mayor said, "All who stay behind may as well be prosecuted" or something like that. I saw people walking around with umbrellas and people sliding on the water on the streets. And when you really do need to evacuate, people will think that it's no big deal. Ughh... I need something to cheer me up.

Happy Birthday, Mom!

Yesterday we celebrated Mom's 35th birthday! We started the day out by looking for Lucy's shoes (which ended up being right where they belong) and headed out to Union Mills, a little area with an old mill and a house from the 1700s. It's kinda like a very, very small Williamsburg. We took a tour of the mill and our kind tour guide gave us some free cornmeal and we got some whole wheat flour that he made from the mill. And he let us sample some cookies his wife made, and he gave us the recipe! Then we were given a tour of the house. Turns out the wife of the last family to live there was extremely creative. She was a very good artist and painted the walls and furniture. That house had a lot of history. Did you know that the battle of Gettysburg wasn't supposed to be there? It was supposed to be at that house but the army was 4 hours off! Anyways, we all had a really great time. Here are some pictures of our fun day:

Here is the mill from the outside. (Unfortunately I saw a sign that said no pictures in the mill or house, so I don't have pictures of those.)

I love the look on Beth's face and Lucy's face!

Here's a gorgeous garden they had full of flowers...

and it had some little grill-looking thing. What do you think it is?

Here's a cute, little fish pond they had at the garden. Do you see those pink flowers? Keep them in mind a second.

This is Lucy in front of the fish pond. Really gives you an idea of the size of the plants, doesn't it?

See! There are those little pink flowers. You know, I'm kinda proud of this picture :)

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Now for a few different pictures (meaning 3). They are at the same place but in a tree. As we were leaving, Dad wanted to see what Ruth thought of the tree. So he put her in there and I took a picture. Lucy was too scared at first but after Abie went up (*click*) Lucy decided to go up, too. I leave her picture for the last, because it is awesome.

Abbie wasn't like the brave noble knight when it came to sitting in the tree, though. She quickly got down.

Ruth looks soooo cute!!!

Last but not least, Lucy, who was too afraid to pick her head up.

:) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) : ): ):) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :)

It's Been A Little Shaky Around Here...

I bet you know exactly what I'm going to talk about, but I'm going to say it anyways. The earthquake. I was sitting on the couch and I actually didn't hear it when I heard Mom yelling from her room where she was putting Ruth down for a nap. I, of course, ran upstairs and I was TERRIFIED out of my mind because I thought something was wrong with Ruth. I had that feeling, where adrenaline pumps throughout your whole body and you're ready to do anything to stop the problem, but you also feel that you might collapse any second. And then I felt it. It felt like somewhere, miles underground, the earth (which it was) was shaking. I immediately registered this as an earthquake, and it was so weird because I never felt anything like it before. Now, I have told myself, as like a personal rule, that in any natural disaster to go downstairs in our unfinished section where there are concrete walls and is partly underground. I was SO stupid. I didn't include an earthquake, because I really thought I would never feel one. It was literally one of the weirdest sensations I've ever felt. So, in my panic (I was actually feeling somewhat relieved because Ruth was okay, and I was so worried that something was wrong with her) I went to the worst place to go during an earthquake. That was all in about 30 seconds. I was personally shaking so hard it was almost hard to believe it was over. After that little trauma, I thought I would go back downstairs to make up for the terrible impression I had made during the earthquake. I was never able to make that up. The girls were terrified to go upstairs (which is ridiculous) and joined me downstairs. Oh, and did I mention that the whole time Ruth was just waving at us, which is her way of saying 'night-night!'
I'm also really excited for this hurricane.