Well, the insurance adjuster will be here in the next 24 to 48 hours. After looking at the damage today in light, this almost had to be a small tornado. We had warnings and a sighting not 8 miles away from my house only a couple of hours before. The building was ripped up off it's base, half inch rebar close to 3 ft long ripped out and twisted like a childs playdoh string and 2+ feet of concrete ripped out of the ground. I had heavy carriage bolts and brackets just twisted in two almost. The panels ripped off the side left gouges in the field close to a foot deep. But things inside were not even disturbed. Down to a car cover for my 67 Camaro and some pieces of paper on the floor of the building. I had a shelf (plywood on two concrete blocks) with very small items like a little jar of rooting powder on it, they never moved. This shelf was against the wall of the building. The building not 10 ft away wasn't touched, the PVC patio chairs were barely moved that were in the building. The pressure sucked out my crawlspace door on my house about 50 ft. away and I haven't found it yet. I do remember a few minutes last night being in the kitchen and having a really weird sensation, hearing what I thought was a 18 wheeler on the road about a quarter mile away from the house. I wrote it off as just being jumpy about the storm. Other than that, I never hear a thing! About 700 ft away, one of my neighbors lost a building as well. The pieces are plastered in the trees behind their house. All I can say is we were so LUCKY!! Insurance is great, and all this will be replaced. I'm not so upset about this. But I'm still shaking in my shoes from the absolute power of Mother Nature and how close my house and family came to being damaged or even killed. This damage was very spotty, like one came down, not entirely to the ground and picked what it wanted. I have thought about the microburst, but nothing inside was disturbed. Strange pattern! The scientist part of me is totally facinated but I never want to meet this face to face again. I've got pics and I'll post a link tomorrow when I have time to upload.

Oh yikes, many people have bad experiences with landscape fabric. I tried using it many years ago - maybe they've improved the material - but it was awful, and this seems to be a common opinion. It isn't that easy to lay down, it bunches up, it gets punctured and weeds grow through anyway, AND last but not least, it doesn't break down for a long time. By that time, lots of roots have grown through and it ends up being difficult to remove. If you want to move your perennials around, then it's real fun dealing with that mess. It's better to use an organic mulch in the long run. Cardboard or newspaper along with mulch gives you pretty good weed control for about a year and you can smother sod or weeds or groundcovers underneath at the same time, all of which are quite the effort to weed or dig out. Breaks down eventually into a nice organic matter that enriches the soil. The worms actually love the paper. Not that I don't still dig garden beds, I just dug one last fall - wanted to plant it right away and I fuss and muss with placement so much. They say you can't be too thin or too rich, but I think you can't have too many flowers. :)

Long day. Its finally stopped about 11PM. 12" here, and probably very close to that at National Airport. Still lots of wind and blowing and drifting, but the skies are now clear. Yesterday, up until about 4am it was a "warm storm" with temps around 32. Its been below 20F since about 8am here. The snow held and held and held on for longer than expected. This was definitely the storm of a lifetime, EVEN IF we had not had the 2 feet here last weekend, just the sheer conditions this storm produced, especially the whiteouts, and the near hurricane force winds along with 4-6 foot drifts, countless downed trees...etc. etc. etc. was a once in a lifetime event here in the Mid Atlantic. However, since we did have 2 feet on the ground already, it was just all the more historic. TZ7, Be safe! I hope you guys dont get it as bad as we did here, especially in terms of the winds. Many of our streets look like the photos you posted, and some were with downed traffic signals. Post more pics if you can! Suffice it to say, all of my palms, including the large trachy in the pot wrapped in plactic and xmas lights, are buried. The in ground palms were buried as of last saturday, and now they are under 3 feet. My smaller trachy unfortunately had spear pull, although that may be more attributed to the fact I left the xmas lights on it one day when we hit 49, and the palm cooked to well over 100F im sure. It somewhat dessicated after that, and has not looked good since. I think these storms just pushed it over the edge. Well see if I cant get it to come back. Ok Im going to bed. Ill post more photos tomorrow. Night all! Be safe.

Thanks for keeping track of us David - what a week! You can not BELIEVE how much water is surrounding my house. The parking lot and soccer fields at the boys' school 5 miles north of us (which has been closed all week), are under water. Miraculously, my neighborhood is one that did not lose power. Southern coastal Brevard county took the brunt on Tuesday and Wednesday, then it was northern Brevard county's turn on Thursday and today. Thankfully, the storm has finally moved inland (strike #3 on Florida) and is taking its wind and rain with it. I pray that it will dissipate before reaching the north Gulf coast or panhandle. Enough is enough. This one is really making me think that I've had more than my fill of Florida at this point in my life. Cathy and Pat, tell us what's going on and please stay safe! Kathy and Bobby, did you see any more wind and rain once TS Fay moved inland? DONNA