With our backs against the wall and being down by 10 with only 9 minutes left to play in a rabidly hostile environment, I started to break out in a cold sweat thinking of having to come back here to admit defeat to the Girly Men. Even though I had the ultRAHigh backing of Ohio based Captain Nappy, I did what any red-blooded mono brain cell football nut would do in that situation... I leased my soul to Lucifer for a comeback win. Hope you're happy! Congrats to the Buckeyes for punching their ticket to the big dance. I couldn't understand the logic of some idiots on TV (Brent MuskRATburger among many) and radio who kept admitting that those two were clearly the best teams in the nation but yet they did not want to see a rematch. Well, WHY THE HECK NOT??? Is it because it would be GREAT for the sport? SIGH! When will they come to their senses and finally give us a real playoff system in college football? BTW Bihai, I think the Gators still have a shot at being the other team in the big game.

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!

I'm in the SW 'burbs of Portland. It's nice to see more Portlanders showing up this time around than in an earlier thread asking where people lived! I've lived in a lot of places (WI, IL, PA, FL and England) and I think my design preferences reflect that exposure. However, as other PNWers have already mentioned, I'm also driven to create a light-filled kitchen to counter the gray winter days. I know a few who've redone their kitchens with dark cabinetry and dark granites and I know I'd find that depressing in the winter. My current plan is to have uppers painted the same pale wheat color (more oo-la-la sounding than "beige") as the walls to give a sense of space and lightness, and stained lowers that will better handle dirt, drips and my careless family than painted cabs. The backsplash tiles will match the walls and upper cabs - with accent tiles tucked in in crucial places - and medium-hued honed counters. I love this look and I hope we can pull it off without it looking incongruous in a 90's home in the 'burbs. The other thing that drives my design are the views to my garden from my corner windows (with corner sink). Standing there, I can view my waterfall to my left - and all the birds it brings in - and my large side garden to my right (we have a pie-shaped cul-de-sac lot). No way could I give up my corner windows. I'd miss the views.

Hi catherinet - I think that's what it is given that I was told that an Osprey was fishing close to the wharf. Thanks for id'ing it! Shyamala