Rain, Humidity, Tornado, Heat Wave, More Storms

That about sums up this summer in Westchester. The rain and humidity have been almost non-stop. Then last Wednesday, July 12, we get a tornado in Westchester. Well, they think it was a tornado and that it touched down in the Tarrytown/Hawthorne area. We just got heavy rains and winds. I got stuck on the highway going home because trees had fallen on the highway and they had to close down all 3 lanes to clear them out. I was about 10 minutes away from Ian's daycare -- ARGH! I sat there for 40 minutes waiting for the traffic to start moving again.

Then this past Monday and Tuesday we had temperatures up in the 90's, close to 100, with a heat index of 105-110 because of the humidity. The heat wave was broken on Tuesday night by raging thunderstorms with high winds. They reported winds of up to 60-70 mph. All I know is that our lights were at about 50% when I got home on Tuesday. Our microwave sounded like it was ill and didn't do anything to actually warm up the food. The stove wouldn't turn on. So Ian and I had a fruit and tortilla chips for dinner (he didn't want anything else anyway), I gave him a bath and put him to bed. I called Jeff to tell him to eat something in the city, so he went to meet some friends. Just as I was settling down to watch some TV, the power went out. That was at about 9:20. It was still fairly warm in the house, but it had cooled down outside. So I went and opened Ian's windows and our bedroom windows upstairs. I went back downstairs and I must have fallen asleep because at around 10:30 I was woken up by crashing thunder and rain slamming against the windows. Luckily, Ian slept through it all. It calmed down by 11:30, so I opened all the windows again and it was much much cooler outside. He didn't wake up until 12:30, just after Jeff got home.

So we went to work yesterday (brought my hairdryer to the office). Lots and lots of downed trees and branches, closing local roads and making it difficult to get around in some places. We thought all would be well by the time we got home. Not so. Another night without power. We made guacamole for dinner.

Here's an article in the local paper on the aftermath: http://www.thejournalnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060720/NEWS02/607200369/1018

We're hoping for power this evening. I put extra bottles of milk in the fridge at Ian's school since I don't know how long our fridge will be out. The good news is that the temperatures are back down to the low 80's during the day and high 60's/low 70's at night. Sleeping with the windows open is actually quite comfortable. It's still a bit humid, but not unbearable like it was earlier this week.

Ian is oblivious to all this of course and just going about his usual business. When I picked him up yesterday, he ran to me as usual, climbed up on me, pointed to his hat and said, "Ah-tuh!" so I put it on him, then pointed to his lunchbag and said, "Nai nai!" He was yelling all of the words that he knows at the top of his lungs in the car on the way home. The rides home are no longer peaceful and quiet. He is either singing or shouting his limited vocabulary at me.

Anyway, that's my excuse for lack of blogging this week.