Twenty-four hours after- almost to the minute - Vincent ran away - back in early September - Hurricane Ike with hurricane-force wind but not a speck of rain - struck Louisville and our Crescent Hill/St. Matthews area. As I left our church sanctuary after worship the sky darkened a bit (Stephanie having left earlier to see if Vincent had returned in our absence), and then I noticed a tree already down and blocking Crescent Avenue. We had followed via CNN and the Weather Channel - prior to Vincent's departure - Ike's devastation in Cuba and Texas. But we took our eyes off this ball after Vincent left, and we had no idea about this part we were in for. Stephanie, Frisco, and I stayed in after I returned, and the wind blew, trees shook, and leaves fell (in a way - not totally different from when I was visiting them five years earlier in Bradenton for Frances) - but without the rain it was hard to know how devastating what was going on was or would become.
A clue came at about 2 p.m. when the lights first flickered and eventually went out - almost all over town, it turns out - except in places like my downtown office building (and probably Vincent's school) where the power lines are underground. (Because we have a natural gas heat water heater, we did not lose our hot water.) (Incidentally, it never did rain for weeks and weeks, as the soft drought continued.) After another hour - still wondering about Vincent (we called him at some point and had a brief conversation and reported him missing to the St. Mathews police...they also called him and talked to him via cell phone) - we ventured out to do a little disaster tourism (probably earlier than we should have). Immediately, a characteristic of the whole week appeared - we talked more with our neighbors - many of whom would hang out to survey the damage, clean up, and - with no electricity inside - just to commiserate. Pictured above is our neighbor Diane, with whom we share a driveway, who was friends with the woman who owned our house for 50 years and died in the dining room four years ago next month - with whom we do talk pretty regularly. Below is Frisco in the leaves - which had all been on the trees an hour and a half before - as he headed out with us.
We took a look left/west up our street (below). Note the telephone pole behind the black vehicle, which turns out to be important.
To the right/east, one of our neighbors (also a tenant, I believe) had already lost a big part of a tree (below).
Below is a closer look.
And a look from right in front (below).
This is looking up St. Matthews Avenue, a street that crosses ours. Power lines had come down and this block was already blocked up. You'll see later that more trees filled this block, which is why I think that perhaps we had gone out too early.
Here's Frisco (below) plowing ahead to part of the "Heart of St. Matthews" intersection, this corner of which had just been re-done.
A cross-walk post (below) had been knocked down, and the clock had stopped an hour and a half earlier.
Below is the cross-walk post up close.
We turned onto Chenoweth lane and passed the Cheoweth Square shopping center, where two large plants (below) had been knocked over.
This is Staebler, a more working-class, tenant-filled block than ours, from behind Heine Brothers coffee shop, which bizarrely got electric power back within a couple of days (before we did). (Supposedly the city sometimes powers up the working-class neighborhoods first, because the lots are small, and more people can get power if they restore power to a block.)
On the left we passed our dry cleaners, where I now have dress shirts laundered. No cleaning is actually done on site and they conducted business during the week, first writing out receipts and later running an extension cord from the hair salon next door, which had power.
As we swung back around onto our street (this walk was only about a quarter of one of the ones Frisco and I do most frequently every morning) smaller trees were down (below).
Now, this tree (below) looks a little bigger.
Trees were also down in the parking lot behind the jeweler (below).
You can'really make out the down power line behind the black car and on the ground by its back tire (which, again, turns out to be very important).
Across the street (below) another neighbor's yard looks like a mess. But it turns out that they were having their driveway and sidewalk re-done anyway. They did use their rented equipment to help out a few neighbors with downed trees.
On the left we passed our dry cleaners, where I now have dress shirts laundered. No cleaning is actually done on site and they conducted business during the week, first writing out receipts and later running an extension cord from the hair salon next door, which had power.
As we swung back around onto our street (this walk was only about a quarter of one of the ones Frisco and I do most frequently every morning) smaller trees were down (below).
Now, this tree (below) looks a little bigger.
Trees were also down in the parking lot behind the jeweler (below).
You can'really make out the down power line behind the black car and on the ground by its back tire (which, again, turns out to be very important).
Across the street (below) another neighbor's yard looks like a mess. But it turns out that they were having their driveway and sidewalk re-done anyway. They did use their rented equipment to help out a few neighbors with downed trees.
This (below) was another beginning of long chats with our neighbors, some of whom we had never spoken to before. The mother of the woman on the left had bought PTSA fund-raising catalog items from Vicnent, and so I remembered her.
The woman in the middle (below) was from a family that had recently bought one of the houses across the street. The man on the left wore a kilt, which another neighbor later made fun of.
The woman in the middle (below) was from a family that had recently bought one of the houses across the street. The man on the left wore a kilt, which another neighbor later made fun of.
A detached garage for one of our neighbors had apparently been blown down (below).
That's it for the walk. As it slowly started to get darker earlier, and we continued with no electric power, Stephanie found candles for us a little at night. Below is - I believe - an arty picture of one of the candles. (Stephanie says this is actually the great full moon that was out the first night of no electricity. The weather had been great and the moon full, so the first night wasn't too uncomfortable with no air-conditioning or heat...but of course...still no Vincent.)
Vincent eventually came home (more on this below). His room upstairs is cooled in the summer by a window air-conditioning unit, and the room is by far the hottest in the house. With no A/C, Vincent slept downstairs in our computer room/guest room one or two nights (see below). I asked Stephaine not to open the windows, because that would blow all of the fall allergens into the house. (Vincent also used the absence of electric power/A/C as another excuse to spend time away - including overnight - although it wasn't really getting dark until a little before his usual (in the old, pre-runaway days) bed time.) (Stephanie pointed out this is when Vincent invaded our room saying it was "cooler.")
At all the lights that were out, drivers were supposed to treat these as four-way stops. But plenty of people didn't, especially initially, and some wrecks resulted. After a couple of days, Governor Beshear called in the National Guard - at least those not in Iraq - and they helped direct traffic, among other things (see below and further below - on my way to work).
Stephanie - and, eventually - Vincent - started to clean up. A pile of debris (below) began accumulating next to our driveway - though it turns out the city wouldn't pick up this debris unless it was bagged.
I mistakenly deleted a picture taken on Day 1 - looking up St. Matthews Avenue - after our walk - which showed why our walk maybe wasn't a good idea at that time - because already a lot more trees had fallen down in the block. Stephanie and I figured that this was the offending tangle of wires and trees that had deprived our block of electric power. Already, in the picture below, the city, the utility company, and perhaps neighbors - had cleared away plenty of the debris.
That's it for the walk. As it slowly started to get darker earlier, and we continued with no electric power, Stephanie found candles for us a little at night. Below is - I believe - an arty picture of one of the candles. (Stephanie says this is actually the great full moon that was out the first night of no electricity. The weather had been great and the moon full, so the first night wasn't too uncomfortable with no air-conditioning or heat...but of course...still no Vincent.)
Vincent eventually came home (more on this below). His room upstairs is cooled in the summer by a window air-conditioning unit, and the room is by far the hottest in the house. With no A/C, Vincent slept downstairs in our computer room/guest room one or two nights (see below). I asked Stephaine not to open the windows, because that would blow all of the fall allergens into the house. (Vincent also used the absence of electric power/A/C as another excuse to spend time away - including overnight - although it wasn't really getting dark until a little before his usual (in the old, pre-runaway days) bed time.) (Stephanie pointed out this is when Vincent invaded our room saying it was "cooler.")
At all the lights that were out, drivers were supposed to treat these as four-way stops. But plenty of people didn't, especially initially, and some wrecks resulted. After a couple of days, Governor Beshear called in the National Guard - at least those not in Iraq - and they helped direct traffic, among other things (see below and further below - on my way to work).
Stephanie - and, eventually - Vincent - started to clean up. A pile of debris (below) began accumulating next to our driveway - though it turns out the city wouldn't pick up this debris unless it was bagged.
I mistakenly deleted a picture taken on Day 1 - looking up St. Matthews Avenue - after our walk - which showed why our walk maybe wasn't a good idea at that time - because already a lot more trees had fallen down in the block. Stephanie and I figured that this was the offending tangle of wires and trees that had deprived our block of electric power. Already, in the picture below, the city, the utility company, and perhaps neighbors - had cleared away plenty of the debris.
Well, here (below) it still looks pretty bad. Eventually Frisco and I figured out how to crawl through/around this - even early in the morning in the dark - so that we could go back to using one of our three or four walking routes when we felt like going that way.
No late -night blogging or TV-watching, most night meetings (including church meetings) canceled, no cooking and little cleaning, going to bed early and spending time with family (at least with Stephanie - more on Vincent later) (partly with Stephanie and - in the abstract - Vincent - home from school/work) - except for throwing away a bunch of food - I enjoyed not having power for 5 1/2 days. 
Here's a new light that Stephanie bought at Home Depot (on a hurricane repair run) that we'd never used until after electric power came back - for our living room - it worked.
We had just finished cleaning up part of the house from 3 1/2 months of painting/disruption (see "September progress") when Ike hit. Here's what the living room/dining room area looked like that Friday night after the lights came on.
We didn't take any pictures of - mid-way through the week - we throwing away all of the food in the freezer and refrigerator (after grocery shopping only days beforehand). Over the next few days - before and after Friday - Stephanie did something I usually try to do several times a year but rarely get to that often - Stephanie gets to it in spurts - clean the refrigerator. This was a great time to clean the refrigerator - because once we'd emptied it - it was really empty - we didn't have to move things back in. By the time Stephanie had finished with it and the freezer (below) - and it was pretty dirty after too many months not being cleaned and then several days with semi-rotting food in it - they were pretty darn clean! A hint from a co-worker of Stephanie's suggested a small amount of vanilla extract in a cup to make sure the refrigerator didn't smell like plastic/rotting food while it sat empty.
That weekend - after the power came back - we went for another walk and Massie Avenue (below) - a block away - was still blocked off with trees/debris.
Here's Stephanie (below) - she'd had to go back to work for a half day on Friday- but - in general - this was probably on the last day or so of her unscheduled week off (which she may have to make up throughout the year). Here she was picking up leaves and debris but also went on to trim weeds, grass, and so on - here - along the tree in the middle of our back yard.
I think this was during the week after we'd all gone back to work/school. One of the very first parts of the neighborhood I'd noticed when I was looking for "For Rent" signs in preparation for Stephanie and Vincent's spring-break 2005 house-hunting visit was Staebler on the west side of Chenoweth Lane - a rounded extension of the working-class street that runs behind Heine Brothers - in this case, behind our dry cleaners and Vincent's orthodontist's office (and - on the other side - behind the train tracks and the Masonic home campus). In fact, the first house we looked at in St. Matthews (and the third house overall) - was on this block - just a few houses left of this house. This scene was symptomatic of the harsh-ness of the rain-less hurricane strike - as this tree falling down destroyed the car. With the black, spooky-looking car and the hatchet tree, I thought these folks might leave this through Halloween (and - as you shall see - they did leave it pretty long).
Rounding the bend along Staebler and Colonial is a corner house (below) that I looked at after Stephanie and Vincent went back to Bradenton - something like prospective home #33 - and a big tree sawed off that had fallen there.
No late -night blogging or TV-watching, most night meetings (including church meetings) canceled, no cooking and little cleaning, going to bed early and spending time with family (at least with Stephanie - more on Vincent later) (partly with Stephanie and - in the abstract - Vincent - home from school/work) - except for throwing away a bunch of food - I enjoyed not having power for 5 1/2 days.
However, I was surprised Friday night that, when I drove home, pulled into the driveway, and then realized that lights inside our house were on, I let out a yelp. For some reason, the street lights on the street hadn't struck me as unusual at all - although they caught Stephanie's attention a few minutes later when she drove up. We learned later from Diane that - from their houses up and down the block - people had let out yells when the lights came on - and then hung out outside (for the last time - until the next hurricane?) - to celebrate.
(By the way, throughout the ordeal - and some people didn't get power back until even Tuesday - a few neighbors in our general area ran generators throughout - though this has to have been deathly expensive - all of that diesel fuel powering the generators for days and days - not to mention wasteful. I bet some of these people got caught up in saving their food and once they'd spent the time and money and keeping it cold for five days couldn't stop themselves. We did hear stories about people sharing generators and even cooking. Luckily, I don't think anyone on our block ran a generator. Still, taking the dog for a walk in the morning it was quite dark (no street lights) but going north towards the rich people's houses you could hear the generators going. Paraphrasing Robert Duvall in "Apocalypse Now," I quipped: "I love the sound of generators in the morning.")
Below are mediocre pictures of street lights on our block and some of our neighbor's lights on on that Friday night.
Here's a new light that Stephanie bought at Home Depot (on a hurricane repair run) that we'd never used until after electric power came back - for our living room - it worked.
We had just finished cleaning up part of the house from 3 1/2 months of painting/disruption (see "September progress") when Ike hit. Here's what the living room/dining room area looked like that Friday night after the lights came on.
Notice the fast food cups, flashlight, and candles, all signs of Ike and no electricity. We were able to use a candle holder that Stephanie's step-brother, Bobby, had made for her several Christmases ago.
We didn't take any pictures of - mid-way through the week - we throwing away all of the food in the freezer and refrigerator (after grocery shopping only days beforehand). Over the next few days - before and after Friday - Stephanie did something I usually try to do several times a year but rarely get to that often - Stephanie gets to it in spurts - clean the refrigerator. This was a great time to clean the refrigerator - because once we'd emptied it - it was really empty - we didn't have to move things back in. By the time Stephanie had finished with it and the freezer (below) - and it was pretty dirty after too many months not being cleaned and then several days with semi-rotting food in it - they were pretty darn clean! A hint from a co-worker of Stephanie's suggested a small amount of vanilla extract in a cup to make sure the refrigerator didn't smell like plastic/rotting food while it sat empty.
That weekend - after the power came back - we went for another walk and Massie Avenue (below) - a block away - was still blocked off with trees/debris.
Here's Stephanie (below) - she'd had to go back to work for a half day on Friday- but - in general - this was probably on the last day or so of her unscheduled week off (which she may have to make up throughout the year). Here she was picking up leaves and debris but also went on to trim weeds, grass, and so on - here - along the tree in the middle of our back yard.
I think this was during the week after we'd all gone back to work/school. One of the very first parts of the neighborhood I'd noticed when I was looking for "For Rent" signs in preparation for Stephanie and Vincent's spring-break 2005 house-hunting visit was Staebler on the west side of Chenoweth Lane - a rounded extension of the working-class street that runs behind Heine Brothers - in this case, behind our dry cleaners and Vincent's orthodontist's office (and - on the other side - behind the train tracks and the Masonic home campus). In fact, the first house we looked at in St. Matthews (and the third house overall) - was on this block - just a few houses left of this house. This scene was symptomatic of the harsh-ness of the rain-less hurricane strike - as this tree falling down destroyed the car. With the black, spooky-looking car and the hatchet tree, I thought these folks might leave this through Halloween (and - as you shall see - they did leave it pretty long).
Rounding the bend along Staebler and Colonial is a corner house (below) that I looked at after Stephanie and Vincent went back to Bradenton - something like prospective home #33 - and a big tree sawed off that had fallen there.
Crossing Chenoweth Lane - on Massie, blocked a few days earlier - Frisco (below) and I came across the remains of another big tree that had crashed down - this one partly on an adjoining house.
Stephanie, Frisco, and I retraced some of my steps a couple of days later. Here (below) they''re walking on the other side of Staebler (this swing around walk on Staebler - with the cute little houses - is one of the things that sold me on the neighborhood - all the more so with Frisco to walk).
Below are Stephanie and Frisco walking in front of the spooky, smashed-up black car.
In front of that big Alpine/Tudor house on Massie with the big tree down/cut up (below) Stephanie, Frisco, and I ran into another couple taking their picture in front of it - disaster tourism - but with a twist- the young man said he worked for the company that had helped saw off as much of the tree that was already gone.
This (below) is some of what was left of the trees and power lines that had blocked off St. Matthews Avenue - and that we had mistakenly thought was the cause of us losing electric power.
You can tell (above) though they'd already made a lot of progress - with part of the tree sawed (and hauled) away. As darkness started to settle in on St. Matthews Avenue (below) - you can tell that the street was now clear enough for cars - and people and dogs - to traverse it - even while there was still some debris to clear.
Stephanie, Frisco, and I retraced some of my steps a couple of days later. Here (below) they''re walking on the other side of Staebler (this swing around walk on Staebler - with the cute little houses - is one of the things that sold me on the neighborhood - all the more so with Frisco to walk).
Below are Stephanie and Frisco walking in front of the spooky, smashed-up black car.
In front of that big Alpine/Tudor house on Massie with the big tree down/cut up (below) Stephanie, Frisco, and I ran into another couple taking their picture in front of it - disaster tourism - but with a twist- the young man said he worked for the company that had helped saw off as much of the tree that was already gone.
This (below) is some of what was left of the trees and power lines that had blocked off St. Matthews Avenue - and that we had mistakenly thought was the cause of us losing electric power.
(It turns out that the culprit in our power loss was much less grandiose - and closer. You might recall that a few houses west of us - a power line dangled down by a black sports car - and this - it turns out - was what knocked off our power. A standoff between the power company and the city of St. Matthews - I wrote earlier - kept the St. Matthews Avenue cleanup going slowly - and as I mentioned we had figured that was what was holding our power back. But just repairing the few downed lines a few doors down from us - apparently on Friday - was what finally did the trick.)
You can tell (above) though they'd already made a lot of progress - with part of the tree sawed (and hauled) away. As darkness started to settle in on St. Matthews Avenue (below) - you can tell that the street was now clear enough for cars - and people and dogs - to traverse it - even while there was still some debris to clear.
With some help from Vincent, Stephanie did a whole lot of sweeping and clearing and both chopped down many of the weeds encircling our back yard patio and swept and cleared away lots of Ike debris that had been on the patio - around eight yard waste bags (below).
A week or two later Frisco and I walked on another street several blocks north of us and came across a fancy house with a badly damaged roof (below) . . .
. . . as well as a sign (below) from the residents, who were apparently philosophical about the damage.
-- Perry
A week or two later Frisco and I walked on another street several blocks north of us and came across a fancy house with a badly damaged roof (below) . . .
. . . as well as a sign (below) from the residents, who were apparently philosophical about the damage.
-- Perry
No comments:
Post a Comment