We're safe (just in case you were worried)

Tropical storm Hanna passed through Wilmington very early on Saturday morning. I have to confess that it was a little disappointing to wake up Saturday morning to discover that the backyard was NOT flooded (our backyard is so flat it floods EVERY time it rains) Whilst we had very strong howling winds, and hence many many pine needles and branches on the ground, we had hardly any rain. And in fact what we experienced was a tropical storm and not a hurricane. Fortunately the dead tree in our yard, next to the house, held up ok and didn't move much in the wind. We will be calling a tree removal place this week as it was fairly stressful trying to go to sleep thinking that we might be woken up by a tree falling on our bed. Hurricane Josephine has dissipated and Hurricane Ike has changed direction. Ike is particularly strong and has killed 58 people in Cuba and is set to hit the Florida Keys later in the week. These storms are scary and remind us how small and helpless we really are!

We spent Saturday clearing out the big pine branches and managed to fill several bins with needles. Sunday turned out to be hot and humid so Andrew was outside bricklaying and working on the pizza oven. He is laying the half sized blocks and soon will be ready for the vermiculite layer pour later in the week.