The Storm of the Century

so glad everybody is OK. the sun is coming out a bit here. supposed to be pretty nice by the weekend.

I can't even wrap my mind around this tragedy at VA Tech.

it's kinda like 9/11. Too hard to deal with all at once

Absolutely. When I heard the final number yesterday, it reminded me a bit of 9/11, though not nearly to that degree. I think being from NYC made that one even harder for me. My street in Queens was in a direct line to the towers. I remember watching them rise as a kid.

My nephews worked building the towers. I doubt the memory of those buildings falling will ever leave me and the deaths are still so hard to accept.

I will never forget.

I remember that day so vividly I don't think I'll ever forget. Still makes my heart ache thinking about all those people and their loved ones.

My cousin, who works in insurance, moved out of the offices that were directly hit by the plane only months earlier. My childhood friend was there at the same time of the hit, but the day before. I was almost up to the tollbooth at the GW bridge on the Palisades Pkwy when they closed the bridge. As I made my way to the northbound lanes to head home, I was almost struck by Port Authority cop cars flying toward the bridge going south in the northbound lanes. Seconds later I heard on the radio that the Pentagon was hit. To say I was in a Twilight Zone state of shock for the next five or six hours would be an understatement. I was punching my steering wheel, crying and screaming at the top of my lungs while driving home. Most of that is a blur to me now. I pulled in and in another bizarre scene, I had landscape guys working in my yard, cutting a new bed for me. At that instant I was furious at them for 'going about normally'. As I got in the house and turned on the tv, seconds later the first one fell. While it was falling, whatever station I had on was absolutely silent. There was no commentary at all. I thought it was a dream. Well it was - a nightmare. That night, as I tried to bring myself to try to sleep, I heard the f-16's screaming down the Hudson. That was the final piece that brought home the fact that things would never be the same again.

It's strange .... obviously the attack on towers was horrific, tragic, and all that stuff - and I'm angry at Life or The World or God for permitting it - but it seems more like the Blacksburg event than like WWII. More like a couple of crazies or one crazy doing something incomprehensible. I don't get it when people kill themselves as part of or at the end of killing a bunch of others. Why not just kill yourself and get it over with? I guess I don't get it when people kill themselves, period.

?????, Carrrie

Victor ~ I know what you mean, I was watching it on TV and it just seemed like a horror movie...not real, HOW COULD IT BE? But it was and things have never been the same have they?

I am now almost in the same type of daze, not as severe, but the feeling of "sureal" is definately here. I just watched the news and cried as they told about the lives lost at Va. Tech, the horror and pain of so many people.
As I composed myself, they switched to our local news and showed our coastline here in Maine. More tears as my beloved State has been bashed and beaten beyond recognition. FEMMA is on its way here to see if we are to be considered a disaster area. I can already tell them from living here all my life that our coast IS a disaster. I have never seen it look this way, nor do I wish to see it look this way ever again. House's are off their foundations, the ocean will lay claim to one of them tonight with out a doubt. In one county alone, there is over 100 roads and bridges closed. We will re-build, repair, and go on.
I wish I could say the same for the families who lost loved ones. We Mainer's took a hard hit, but those families lost a piece that they can never get back, for this I am truely heart broken and saddened beyond words. Their worlds will never be the same, and they can not re-build what has been lost.

If any of you have ever been to Maine's coast, you know how beautiful and rugged a place it is. Here is a link to view what it looks like now.
http://www.wcsh6.com/ Go to "Top Stories"

Sorry to hear about all the damage, pix. But you guys WILL rebuild and it will be beautiful again. My wife just got home and told me that a physical therapist that used to work at the hospital where she works lost her only daughter yesterday at VA Tech. Is anything worse? She was just sitting in history class and now she is dead.

Pixie, That was sad to watch.

I can not imagine....the pain of losing not just a child, but her only daughter. Like I said, Maine will rebuild, those families cannot.

It's all too sad and too hard to believe.

pirl, I know you come to Maine...I may not look the same as you remembered.

We're going elsewhere this fall, thankfully, so by the time we get back there I'm sure it will be as beautiful as we remember it being. I do love Maine.....Canada....but Cape Cod best of all.

I have friends who go to the Cape every summer....it is beautiful!

I was brought to an island in ME every summer when I was little. I still remember the way it smells, the tastes and textures. The mosquitoes!!!!!!!!! Gosh, those monster mosquitoes. I went up a few times in other seasons, too. Less crowded, just as gorgeous.

Pixie, I know it's not your Vacationland the way it is for some of us, but it will always be a beautiful state.

xxxxx, Carrie

pixie - looked at the pictures last night on the link you gave us. What a mess. Was anyone hurt during the storm? With all of the damage it would be a miracle if no one was. As for the events at Virginia Tech, I just don't even know what to say. It's hard to understand how someone can be so angry and sick that they commit such an awful act. My thoughts and prayers are with the families who lost loved ones and the others involved who now have to go on with their lives. It's got to be very difficult for them!!
:(

It is a mess! A woman and her grandaughter tried crossing a washed out road, was swept down stream by the current. A man passing by jumped in and tried to save them, all 3 were pulled out but the woman and her grandaughter died.
Last night a few of our rivers crested and some people had to be evacuated. Hopefully no more fatalities will occur.

How terrible!

It is very sad....the woman lives here in Maine, her GD lives in N.H. but was staying w/gram during school vaction. I can't imagine how her parents must regret sending her here for vacation.....she was 6.

What grief for all concerned. Such an unending nightmare.

That's so sad. The little girl is so young. The parents must be devastated. I hope there are no more deaths from the storm.

Been a sad, sad week.

I think the "BIRDS" in my area saw this awful weather coming. Had birds we have never seen at the house. I think one was a Gila Woodpecker. Wild turkey's, 2 mallard ducks. I think 3 hawks, one got a little bird and feathers all over the yard. What really got me was Saturday at least 12 Junkets or chicadee's flew into the kitchen window. In 3 years that has never happened.

Let's all pray everything goes away, the weather gets Normal and we can see the sun! Please SUN !!!!!

I'm not sure if you know, but President Bush has a summer home in Kennebunk. Well some ding dong lady tried to cross the water to get to it and was bowled over by a wave....her DH had to go get her and another person had to help him pull her in. It could of been another fatality due to her impulse and stupidness!
The water is really cold and hypertherima takes minutes to set in.
This was all caught on a cell phone video and I just watched on the link above!

Coming soon.......to all of our homes........SUNSHINE.

schick, animals have been known to sense things early, including earthquakes. I'm sure they are sensitive to the dropping air pressure associated with a nor'easter.

Even the woodpeckers aren't shy about coming to the birdfeeder on the deck when a storm is coming!

Do they peck on the plastic or just eat?

Pixie,
I looked at your link--so sad. I can appreciate that it's especially hard for you since you've lived in Maine all of your life. I hope that the blue skies return quickly, and better times.

Most of the time he just eats...his suet feeder was blown away by the wind and I think he was very hungry. But sometimes he just can't help himself!!

At least the surf was cool. A friend of mine took this shot.

Watersedge, doesn't look to bad there...glad you didn't get the destruction as they did in the southern part. The surf is amazing......can you imagine what Thunder Hole looked like Monday??? It must of been spectacular!!

Thunder Hole was big by all reports. I REALLY wanted to be in the part of Acadia called Schoodic Point. On a normal day the surf is as high as in the picture above. But, alas, I was at work.........

Thunder Hole is so thunderous on a normal day that with the storm it must have been amazing.

This is my neighbors field......or it was. It is now a lovely pond for my fine feathered friends.

This spot holds water every spring, but never that much! We have mallards that stop in, this year there were 21 in all. Yesterday we had some new residents that have never stopped before. I think because it has gotten so big and sooo much deeper that these Canadian Geese stopped by for a visit. To say the least....I was extremly excited!!
Sorry the picture isn't very good, but I could barely stand the wind and rain yesterday!

This message was edited Apr 18, 2007 3:08 PM

Loretta ~ Thank you for your kind words.
I finely have something to grin about...my tulips, daffs and daylilies are poking up!! This rain melted almost all of the snow and we are to reach 50-55 by friday!

If you enjoy reading about birds you should enjoy this link: http://www.gulfofmaine.org/times/winter2001/majka_and_christie.html

We've had the pleasure of meeting Mary Majka and she is a splendid person.