Marie at 1 Write Way

Life After Helene

Woot! Power is back on. Now my electronic life resumes … charging batteries, checking internet service, resetting clocks, plugging in the kettle, turning on the light in my windowless bathroom, sitting now with my iPad typing away.

Now complacency can set in since Helene (for us) turned out to be a minor inconvenience. Maybe it would have been psychologically worse for us if we hadn’t prepared for the worst, but as far as life and limb, we are so near normal now that Helene seems like a bad dream.

Yesterday, the hummingbirds came back in force, and my husband had to scurry to get the feeders back up. The butterflies (mostly long-wing zebras but we did see one Monarch yesterday) are also back and hungry.

While I’m glad to have power again, I’ll miss the dark sky, the relative silence (generators and owls competing for our attention), and the slowing down of life, the opportunity to “make do” and learn what I can live without.

Thanks to everyone for your good wishes!

Please keep in the mind all those who were hit harder by Helene than we were. We were saved by Helene tilting east, but that meant that others were not so lucky. Areas that were hit worse include Taylor County which has suffered through three hurricanes in the last two years.

The day after Helene, after a sleepless night …

Wendy needs to lose weight!

Marie A Bailey

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39 responses to “Life After Helene”

  1. I’m so glad you and yours are OK, but I know others were hard hit. I just heard a story on NPR Weekend Edition–a couple said it was their third hurricane (in a year?). They got through the other two, but now their house is gone.

    Love your cat photo (again). 😊

    Liked by 1 person

    • Isn’t it a great cat photo? Greg laughed out loud when I showed it to him.
      I know that the Big Bend area has been hit three times in two years, but some people evacuated there to escape other hurricanes … so, yup, it’s definitely conceivable. It’s why we don’t live on the coast … but apparently we are still too close ☹️

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        • Hah! The MAGA crowd votes against the federal government, but always has their hands out when the $ does come through. Did you hear about the Tennessee governor and how he called for a day of prayer on 9/27 and didn’t declare a state of emergency until AFTER disaster struck. The one thing I’ll give Florida’s governor was that he declared an emergency early on … of course, he knows there would have been an outcry if he hadn’t. Floridians know their hurricanes too well.

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  2. So happy to hear you didn’t suffer overly much. I know what you mean about enjoying the silence for a while and making do with what we can. Sometimes it’s good to be forced to.

    Mother Nature is being tough on certain areas!

    Liked by 1 person

    • Thank you, Ellen. The cats were also recovering from all the Gabapentin we had given them, trying to keep them calm during the storm 😸 You are so right about hurricanes, any natural disaster that is widespread. Someone always suffers even if you don’t.

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  9. “We were saved by Helene tilting east, but that meant that others were not so lucky. ”
    We were saved by Helene forging to the Northwest (Asheville) and like you say – that meant others were not so lucky.
    :-(

    Liked by 1 person

  10. I’m so glad you and yours weathered the storm ok. I feel sick for North Carolina and Tennessee. We are ok out here, except we are having such a heat wave. It’s almost October and been 112 degrees. I want to run away screaming.

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  11. Yay! You were spared the worst of it and things are beginning to get back to normal for you. Helene will be one for the records, we even got some of the wind and relentless rain up here. No damage, though.

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  12. Marie, I’m so glad you are okay. I’m sorry about the power loss!

    This has been a difficult hurricane season!

    Love the photo of the kitties. How did they fare during the storm?

    Liked by 1 person

    • Thank you, L. Marie! We got our power back a lot sooner than we thought we would, and even if we didn’t, I wouldn’t complain. What happened north of us is just unimaginable.

      The kitties did well, but I was giving them low doses of Gabapentin. We put them in their pet taxis that night for their own safety, and we all stayed in the back bedroom. But despite the drugs, Wendy made a fuss. Eventually we let her out but closed the bedroom door, and she made a fuss about that. Ugh. Once we knew the hurricane has passed through, we let them out. Thank goodness it wasn’t any worse.

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  13. So glad to hear that Helene took it easy on you and you are all safe.

    I love your sweet kitties. Your Wendy reminds me of Charlie. Sometimes it’s better just to have a fat cat. hugs!

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