Storm Notes

We decided to spend 2 weeks on the Outer Banks in NC – in the off season, lounging around, relaxing, not doing much of anything. It sounded very appealing. We rented a house, right on the water. It's 3 stories, on stilts. The 1st floor is a car port, the 2nd floor is bedrooms and the 3rd floor is the living area.

The first 10 days here were lovely. Warm fall days, blue skies – walks on the beach – drinking wine on the deck and watching the moon rise over the Atlantic. Spotting schools of dolphins and picking up shells, checking in with the fishermen, seeing what they're catching (speckled trout - big ones). It amused us how intense and competitive the fishermen were about speckled trout, jealously keeping an eye on each other's fishing prowess.

However, they are gone now. The wrath of God has cleared them out. We've been experiencing a "Nor'easter" the last 3 days. One of the definitions calls it a Macro-scale Storm.

No kidding.

So far we've had 9-10" of rain, waves up to 20 feet, wind gusts up to 70 mph and tides 7' higher than normal. All on our doorstep. I've not slept in 3 days. The unceasing noise makes us feel like we're under seige. The wind, the pounding surf, things hitting the house, loose things banging all around us, all the house vents flapping.

The first night as screens started flying off the windows we opened the patio door to try to retrieve them and the plastic patio chairs. Big mistake. I thought the entire house was going to lift off and land in Kansas. The force of the wind coming in blew the heavy wooden attic hatch door right into the attic. However it left the jigsaw puzzle on the coffee table undisturbed. Very tornado-ish.

When we arrived, we slept in the bedroom on the water side so we could keep the window open and hear the ocean at night – it was nice. Now water is seeping down the wall of that bedroom and we've vacated it for a drier and quieter one on the other side of the house.

For 3 days now the house has literally been moving, continually shuddering from the wind. Like a mild earthquake that doesn't stop. I watched the wine in my glass slosh around as it sat on the table. Note to self: wine is not particularly helpful in a weather emergency.

Today it's starting to ease off slightly, still storming, but not crazy intense. We are going to venture out for provisions. We're down to mayonnaise, mustard, sage, thyme and Special K. Try making a meal out of that.

I could do with a speckled trout just now.