We have an hour before it's set to hit here. The wind is up already. I got two big way-carts full of sugar maple leaves deposited in their piles. I didn't need any more on my East border but I hope the remaining leaves will disappear with the storm. Seventeen sugar maples is more than anyone needs! But they're like children: which one would you give up? I planted 3 pots of obedient plant. I don't know why that one has been hard for me to keep. Going out now get the last few blooms and then hunker down. Through Indiana the wind's been fierce but the hard rain seems to blow through in a half-hour or less.

Schoolhouse, we lost power last night and just got it back about two hours ago. Other than that, we came through unscathed. Glad you fared so well also. I amused myself as the winds blew by imagining what the new master bath might look like if the leaning tree were to fall on the house. As long as I was dreaming, I also added a walk-in closet! Ha! You are so sweet to check on me. We consider ourselves very lucky, especially when we see what happened in NJ and NY. Thanks so much and here's hoping that old lilac comes back more beautiful than ever next spring!

OOPS! I ment to post this on the Upstate NY forum. But for those of you in the Ohio Valley and along Lake Erie. Stay inside stay safe and stay warm. I think Indianapolis got hit pretty hard. Penny

Good gravy, I'm so glad I don't often watch the news, and wasn't reading all of this. The wind was awful here, but as everything was still in pots waiting to be planted, I just snuggled everything up against the west-facing side of the house, and let 'em fend for themselves. Several pots got blown over, but nothing too tragic--they have all gotten to be VERY good friends, as they're all mashed up next to each other so that they can't blow around/down too much. I finally was able to get some peppers planted out yesterday--got about 40 into their containers, and staked every dang one of them except for that beauty that I got from Greg at the swap; it's back up against a wall, though... Freeze? Good thing it didn't--I was completely unprepared for it. I figured: if it freezes this late in the game, then we're all in trouble! Still, if it's cold enough to "frost" but the breeze is blowing, the moisture can't settle on the plants... at least, judging by if I have to scrape my windshield in the morning!