Hey ya'll, sorry to be so late checking in, it's a mess at my house in weird ways. Most of our damage is in the form of litter, a few shingles were damaged on the roof and I think we're going to lose the screen room where we took our meals but on the other hand the treehouse and "the Lady's Room" are completely intact. DH's work hasn't contacted him at all so we're pretty much thrown back on my eBay sales. I've been scattered, stressed, worn out, confused, scared and then I think of those poor, poor people in New Orleans(ohhhhh, New Orleans!!!!!!) and my heart breaks and I feel so GUILTY. I'm just walking around not knowing how to feel and sometimes what to do next. They still haven't released a date for school to start again and some of the kids are stressing over that(weird, but they will lose days from more fun holidays because of this). Anyway, I'm so sorry for not thinking to check in earlier, I don't know what came over me?

Well, after a rather harrowing night, the last half of today turned out to be amazingly beautiful. Perfect weather to be outdoors, and for all the clean up. That said, I'm sure most people were not exactly having 'fun' today though. It seems like the absolute worst of this storm and its damage occurred from about Cape May, NJ, south along the coast to Va Beach, and inland to the big cities west of those points. The Damage seems to be less severe the farther north you go from NC/VA. For us here in the DC area, well, I have to say I was 'surprised' at this storm. The damage left behind was just about as bad as Isabel in 2003, maybe slightly less. From about 30 miles west of DC, to the coast the damage is what is being called 'major'. The most common are trees being blown on homes and going through them and crushing cars. The sheer number of trees down around just the DC Metro is staggering. Probably in the thousands. Lots of roads / streets were blocked and many still are. No real structural damage to most buildings from winds alone, other than a couple buildings having roofs partially peeled back / loss of shingles / some siding / gutters ripped off. Some minor to moderate flooding from storm surge along tidal waters which capped out at about 3-4 feet. The far worst of the flooding came from the massive rains. Ranging from 3-4 inches 30 miles west of DC, to 5-8" right in the city, to 10-12" 30 miles east and much more the farther south/ east you go from here. Lots of river and creek flooding causing road overwashes. My rain gauge maxes out at 5", and was full by 1:30 am. I'm guessing we got 1-2" more than that here. Reports of 4-8" in the immediate metro area were commonplace. Over all, it was probably 'worse than expected' in our area. The absolute worst of it came in the period from midnight to about 5am, when we were having sustained winds of 40-50+ and gusts 55-75mph. The worst part was pretty much like a 6 hour long severe thunderstorm. It would come in waves. Backing off to 40MPH or so for a few minutes, then big huge gusts around 55+, then every 7-10 minutes or so we would get a period of several minutes where the sustained winds were like a gust that just would not stop, and then an even higher gust on top of that, topping out around 70+. The wind reports all around our region were pretty consistent, with the highest gusts just west topping out around 55in places 30 miles west, to 65-70 inside the beltway, and 75-80 30 miles east and south along the Chesapeake Bay. about 40 miles west of D.C., almost no damage to speak of. Just some heavy rains at times, and gusty winds of 35+, but nothing very bad. It was a very sharp cutoff line between damage and almost nothing. The thing that made this storm worse, was its size, and slow movement. Had this been a quick event, we probably would not have seen nearly the damage. But, because this event was very protracted and lasted for 20 hours, most certainly lead to more damage. Isabel in 2003 was in and out fairly quickly. She was here less than 6 hours at her worst. The other difference, with respect to storm surge anyway was that it was less here because the storm passed to our east this time, in stead of to our west. This was a east, northeast, north, and northwest wind event here, which helped to push water more OUT , than in on top of the storm surge itself. Partners mother in Smithfield VA had a pretty bad night, as I suspect most did in SE Virginia and Eastern NC where the damage reports are much worse. No power since 6AM Saturday morning. They lost two large trees in their yard, but fortunately both missed the house. Their neighorhood is literally littered with trees down, and quite a few homes damaged by them. The pictures coming out of Va Beach, and the NC beaches are by far and away the most incredible. Even along the MD/ Delaware beaches there is quite a bit of damage. Tornadoes caused damage in both Lewes and Rehoboth Beach, DE. As for my yard, well, just 1 large tree limb from someone elses tree is in it, and most things that were not either VERY HEAVY and/ or tied down , did blow over. It looked like a war zone, but fortunately nothing was really damaged except for a clay pot with my rosemary bush in it. The palms, well, 2 got knocked over, but the big 8 foot pigmy date came through it like a champ. I tied it down with rope and rebar and it went no where. Ill post some photos in a bit. I hope everyone made it through OK with no significant losses / damage!

Hey, Dave!, and Happy 2013 to you! LOLOL You had JUST the reaction that I'm hoping to elicit with such ridiculous comments. I know, 55 deg is just so cold, right? ;-) I think I told you once before that I grew up in York County, PA, just north of you...entire family is still there, I'm the only one that left. I ended up down here because my blood has been thin from the day I was born. Unless I'm skiing, I want no part of cold weather. Anyway, in answer to your question, I'd say that it in my observation it appears to vary according to cultivar. For instance, my Divine is pretty much ever-blooming at this point in its maturity, but its flowers at this time of year show zero pink and thus are pretty unremarkable. Also, the Cooktown Sunset tree is in the shadiest, most northern spot on the property--that inflo got toasted by a single night of wind and mid-40s temps after it gave me a handful of flowers (see above pic). At any rate, to me those blooms appeared pale compared to photos I've seen (first time blooming for me). They were welcome and very beautiful all the same, of course. Great scent. But OTOH, Hawaiian Coral bloomed last summer and then again recently, and I can say with certainty that the winter flowers were the same color intensity. Indo Rose is first-time bloomer but these colors are rich too (new pic from today at the end of this post). Laura/Robert/all: I can think of nothing more fun-sounding than a day downstairs here at my place surrounded by my plumeria friends!!! Were I a "man of means" hee hee, I'd be flying you all down! 82 degrees today, low of 72 tonight!! It's heaven...and I think the plumies like it too. Laura, after Indo Rose is done, I will pretty much be looking at sticks myself and though I have 2 or 3 brand-new inflos, I am dreading the wait/dry spell!! Come on, Spring!!! Best to all of you, Greg

wanda - In November of 2009 I took a cruise departing from Galveston through Hurricane Ida. A couple of cruise lines did cancel their cruises out of Florida. We were traveling with Princess Lines and they reversed their itinerary to avoid the storm as much as possible. We were supposed to visit the ports of call on our way down and then deadhead back but instead, in order to sail around the storm we deadhead down south and then as the storm headed north we were able to visit the ports of call on our way home in calm seas. A couple of words of advice if you can get a hold of your grandson which helped us (I was traveling with 9 girlfriends for a week away), start taking gravol (or whatever) the minute that you get on the ship and keep taking it until the rough seas have passed. Keep a light on in your room when you're trying to sleep at night if the seas are rough. and if it's rough suggest that his new bride wear flat shoes on the decks. So many people got sea sick but I didn't because I started taking the gravol the minute we walked on the ship, and we discovered the light trick just by accident, we kept the bathroom light on with the door ajar - it helps to be able to see a "horizon" in the room if the seas are rough. Interesting feeling was when we were trying to sleep and there is no rhythm to rough seas so we were back and forth both side to side and head to toe and then suddenly the whole ship would shudder - it was the stabilizers kicking in.