The Bright Side

I went white water rafting in West Virginia this past weekend and left my husband at home to face the hurricane alone.  I invited him to join me on the river, but he said that he would be less stressed being at home in case anything went wrong than being away and wondering if our apartment was still standing and not flooded.  So I went, and he stayed.  Hurricane Irene only lightly grazed the DC area before slamming New York City, having bounced off of the North Carolinian shore and mostly going around us.  Heavy rains and some wind downed several trees, knocking out the electricity  for just under 24 hours (Pepco responded shockingly well, very out-of-character for them).  Our only damage was to our fence, caused by our neighbor's tree being uprooted.  Luckily it fell away from our apartment building and not toward it.  I am glad that we are renting, so fixing the fence is not our responsibility...

Here's a picture of the damage, including two green plastic lawn chairs and a table that managed to stay upright during the whole storm:

On the bright side (literally), we have more sunshine pouring in through our living room window now that that tree is gone!