Have a great one!

Posted by: Ted at 01:44 AM | category: Munuvian Daily Tattler
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John and crew have reported in. All's well in the land of SilverBlue, meaning nobody was hurt. They had a much rougher time of it than we did, that's for sure.

Posted by: Ted at 11:13 AM | category: Munuvian Daily Tattler
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Not just another Munuvian, but the King Munuvian himself, celebrates his birthday on the 20th.

Happy Birthday Pixy Misa, and thanks for everything you've done. Here's hoping you have a great day!

A special tagline just for you:

There are 10 kinds of people in the world. Those who know binary, and those who don't.

Posted by: Ted at 08:03 PM | category: Munuvian Daily Tattler
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HereÂ’s a wrapup of our little corner of Isabellaville.

My wife was supposed to go in to work today at noon, and we expected the worst part of the trip to be getting out of our neighborhood to the main roads. She works for an optometrist in Manassas (~20 miles away), and the doctor called this morning to report that she had no power. DonÂ’t bother coming in unless she calls. Good deal.

I called my dentist to check on the situation there (very local). No problemo, see you at noon. Woot!

The extent of our problems around the house was two upstairs windows directly facing the wind were accumulating some water inside the window sill. I carried two sopping wet towels downstairs this morning. ThatÂ’s it, except for some raking and sweeping outside.

Normally, an inch of rain here causes some basement flooding. What happens is that the rain soaks into the ground and runs downhill to the creek which is behind our houses. ThereÂ’s a thick layer of clay a couple of feet down which keeps the rain from deep soaking so the water winds up flowing under and around our row of townhouses. When it gets to where the water canÂ’t drain fast enough, it comes up into our basement between the slab and the foundation. WeÂ’ve lived in this house now for almost 15 years and I cannot prevent the flooding, but I can minimize it and control where it happens. IÂ’ve got it to where any water we get soaks a small corner of my workshop. I can keep up with it with towels and a wet vac, no problem. All the important stuff is already up off the floor.

So we got way more than an inch, and I expected to be in bad shape, flood-wise. Instead, we got not a drop. What I think happened this time is that the rain fell so fast that it didnÂ’t have time to soak in very much, and most of it drained as surface runoff, for which weÂ’re very well prepared. Whew!

Update (this section):
We just heard from my sister-in-law. Her mother-in-law (my brother-in-laws mom) has a beautiful piece of property in Baltimore harbor, surrounded on three sides by water. ItÂ’s the core of their whole extended family, because everyone picnics there and keeps their boats there and fishes from there, etc. TheyÂ’ve flooded before, you kinda expect it living that close to the water. But this time, everything is pretty much destroyed or under water. It's just wiped clean. Nobody was hurt, but they lost every last bit of everything they owned. No flood insurance either, because living where they did, they couldn't afford the premiums, and the coverage was exteremely limited.

So yeah, IÂ’m counting my blessings this morning, because this storm was absolutely zip for me personally, but I know that it couldÂ’ve been much much worse.

Much of old-town Alexandria is underwater, but cleanup is already going on as waters recede. Of course, the worst of the flooding happens tomorrow and Monday when all that rain from the west comes down the rivers towards the bay.

Anyone hearing anything at all from John, Tink and crew, or WindRider, Bill, and the rest of the Virginia Beach gang? It sounds like Kevin and Victor and Nic are doing fine. Think good thoughts folks, it ainÂ’t over for everyone.

Posted by: Ted at 10:33 AM | category: Munuvian Daily Tattler
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We - personally - dodged a major bullet with this one.

No more major trees down in the immediate vicinity.

We lost electricity for a short time early this morning. NOVEC rocks!

To the north, Fairfax county lost power to it's water treatment plants, so folks have to boil their tap water before using. I think people are going door-to-door to pass the word because they still have widespread power outtages.

Update: Loudon county is also having water problems, as is the city of Alexandria. Now they're telling folks to drink bottled water, because natural gas has been turned off in areas around the counties.

Flooding is still our biggest worry, but we're sitting up pretty high that I'm not too concerned. Our basement stayed dry. Wonder of wonders. I estimate somewhere around 6" of rain fell. It's true people, prepare for the worst, and it won't happen to you.

More later. Gonna go take a walk.

Posted by: Ted at 07:45 AM | category: Munuvian Daily Tattler
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Federal Government closed tomorrow.

First fatality reported. A car in Anne Arundel county was swept away by floodwaters.

I took a walk around the neighborhood and things are looking ok. We're about two hours from the eye band, and between the smaller rain bands. It's windy, but mostly dry for the moment. Lots of little branches down, but no more big ones that I could see.

Posted by: Ted at 07:57 PM | category: Munuvian Daily Tattler
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By now, we've all seen the hurricane coverage, and I got to wondering about those two red and black flags they keep using as the background graphic. Read all about it here.

I love international standards. But if it were "Ted's Universe", the flag symbol for Hurricane would the the 'T' and 'F' flags.

Tango Foxtrot.

Update: The news has just reported a possible Coast Guard rescue attempt in the Outer Banks. Apparently, three people in a car are stranded on an island ordered evacuated a couple of days ago. Instead of a rescue, why not let nature winnow the herd by a few idiots.

Also, despite Metro announcing that they would suspend service at 11am this morning (which prompted the Federal Government to close for the day), there are still oblivious fools who didn't get the word. One old man stranded downtown smiled at the camera and said he'd walk home after work. "About an hour," he said. In a hurricane. Is it mean to think that it'd be fun to attach a GPS tracker to him and watch his hike on screen? I wonder which direction he lives in, the wind could shorten his trip to 20 minutes.

Posted by: Ted at 12:09 PM | category: Munuvian Daily Tattler
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Eleven AM, and the news just announced almost a quarter million people without electricity in Virginia already... Isabel isn't quite ashore in North Carolina yet.

Mookie just let me know the school district is closed tomorrow. She's been a trooper helping out around here. To show how much I appreciated her help, I told her that her older brother and sister were adopted. She liked that a lot.

Posted by: Ted at 11:00 AM | category: Munuvian Daily Tattler
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Daniel has an entry in the latest showcase, and it's a good one! Well, until the thin air of Mile High gets to him at the end.

Posted by: Ted at 07:11 PM | category: Munuvian Daily Tattler
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Have a wonderful day, Jen!

Posted by: Ted at 07:53 AM | category: Munuvian Daily Tattler
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Go on over to his place and say nice things. He has to be out of town and work on his birthday.

Update: Paul over at Sanity's Edge is inviting one and all to tell their favorite Bill stories. Read, laugh, and reminisce with us.

Posted by: Ted at 07:35 AM | category: Munuvian Daily Tattler
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Visit her place and tell her 'happy birthday'.

Posted by: Ted at 10:30 PM | category: Munuvian Daily Tattler
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