alya, I think you missed the point. I was pointing out to Faina who was flamed by leelane that I was flamed by her for no reason as well. You almost make it sound like I was flaming leelane, when what I brought up was exactly the opposite!

Ooops. I got distracted from the real reason I came here this morning:

Rave: Looks like Dennis is totally passing us by in SW Florida. Here's hoping he fizzles out in the Gulf and spares everyone in the panhandle as well.

Patrick, that's great news--what a relief! :-)

Rant: Dennis is headed toward the panhandle

Rave: Just completed installation of a whole house generater. I didn't have to shop for hurricane supplies and we will have lights, water, and most importantly AC!

Sunshine Sue: curious (as a Tar Heel) about generators. In addition to price (which I believe can run from 5K to 10K for a whole-house unit), I've wondered how you can be sure of enough fuel to run them. Does yours run on gas or gasoline or propane or? Do you have some storage tank installed as well, or only enough for, say, 2 days?

SunshineSue, keep that generator a secret from your neighbors ... they will all arrive at your door with the contents of their freezer when THEIR power goes down! :D (I know ... my neighbor allows me to do that to her when we have ice storms and hurricanes in Raleigh! :D )

The generator runs on propane, which is what we use for hot water and cooking. (We cannot get city gas where we live.) We had a new, larger propane tank installed when the generator was installed. The generator can run my house at full capacity for four days on a full tank. I have a big house-over 5,000 sq. ft. so if we economize, which of course we would do, it will last considerable longer than that.

The generator is programed to shut down the electricity in the house once a week and run the house for a specified period of time. This is to maintain it. But the power never actually goes off so no resetting clocks etc. In the event of a power failure it kicks in after about five seconds or so. I think the cost was closer to 20,000 but I'm not sure. I can check with my husband.

Bonnie, Yikes! Several of my neighbors do know! Oh well, once my freezer is full, it's full. I am just waiting to see the neighbors lined up with towels and shampoo looking for a hot bath. We are on wells in this neighborhood so no electricity means no water.

Thanks, "Sunshine"! In those odd dark moments in the middle of the night when I imagine the havoc a well-placed terrorist attack COULD wreak on the power grid, I think that those in rural areas or areas unserved by utilities (like yours) will be well-off for at least a little while -- never mind the dang hurricanes.

I remember there were some in unincorporated areas around us in 1996 on well-water who had no power, and therefore no water, for almost a month! I found just 5 days without water a serious hassle, and we could get jugs of water from DH's employer.

Woops! Rant: all the reasons, including hurricanes, why one might need a generator; and the cost of one!!!

Rave: having enough foresight to set one up.

Also rave: bonniebroad's garden! I'm sure it's gorgeous. Except for gardenias (which can't be overwatered), I'm a disaster at gardening but admire others greatly.

And one more day-late rave: the most fireflies in any summer since we arrived in the early 1990s.

I'm glad for you Patrick! It looked as if you'd get something. I feel so badly for the Panhandle...how can they do this all over again?

We have a captain looking out for our boat and keeping an eye on the lines--I'm so thankful...he knows what he's doing way more than we do! He's saying the area where the boat is will get tropical storm force winds. My dh just sent me a link from our bay that has streaming video as well as wind speed indicators. The wind is definitely beginning to climb. :( http://www.bcbaywatch.com/ Click on "streaming cam" for pictures.

Thank you all for your kind words for a speedy healing. I plan to do just that! :D It was a rather spectacular dive...wish I could have seen it, rather than being the one to actually do it! It did wake up our sleepy little marina--and me too.

Wow, OO, that's an interesting link. The wind looks pretty scary. Patrick, I'm so glad it will pass you folks by - and for those still in its path, we'll be thinking of you.
Thanks, everybody, for your good wishes about our new home. I do hope Scarlett has the same good fortune; we can't believe our luck.
The rain out here in BC has stopped for now. It's actually been beneficial because it's reduced the risk of forest fire; much of the province was badly hit 2 years ago and the risk is usually very high at this time of year. But it's slowed down in time for Patrick's visit next week. :)

Meetshare, I'd missed the note on your house! Congratulations, that's fantastic! 3 days to your dream house must be some kind of a record. It took us more like 3 weeks and a hundred houses. When do you move and was this a move by choice or transfer? That's a pretty darned nice area you'll be going to. Yes indeed...where is Santa when you really need him? :)

I too am keeping my fingers crossed for Scarlett's house hunt. Can't wait to hear.

OO, we move in mid-September. The house deal actually closes on Sept. 6 but we won't get out here until the end of the month; we need to drive across the country from Toronto and we're going to take it easy so we can see things along the way. The move is entirely by choice; the first time I was out here, about 20 years ago, I thought "I need to live here!" I've never lived anywhere except Toronto but BC just felt like home. Then I met my sweetie, who is originally from here and has always planned to move back. It just all clicked into place, gradually but perfectly. I retire from my job at the beginning of Sept. and start a new (part-time) one out here in January. My sweetie is a freelance musician and well-known in these parts where he has performed before, so once people know he's around he'll have whatever work he wants. It all just WORKS - we feel so fortunate we can hardly believe it. We should certainly host a Fodorite GTG in the Pacific Northwest once we're settled!

Sunshinesue, I also run everything on electricity and live in the country where we have our own wells, delivered gas, septic systems, etc.

When the elec. goes out there is no drinking water, heat, A/C, toilet, showers, cooking. The last time the elec. went out it was 3 degrees during a snow storm. Having and older garage door opener system on a steel double door we could not even get the car out of the garage at first. it took a long time and hard work.

Living outside of a municipal system has problems which many people do not realize. I will have to spend $6000 this year to update my septic system to code and a few years ago I spent $4500 for a new well.

Rant: Terrorists
Rave: No one from my company killed in London and only minor injuries.
Rant: The storm that ran through here two nights ago messed up my phone line.
Rant: Waiting for two days for the phone company to come work on the problem.
Rant: Discovering after 7pm last night they closed out my ticket erroneously. After two days of feeling hostage at home, I have to do it all over again next week.
Rave: Drove up to the mountains where it's nice and cool and I can check in on FF:RR.
Rant/ Rave: Fodorites are sharing and sniping. I've missed both! :-)
Rave: New delights and treaures that are completely unexpected. This week has reminded me of the song country song - "Thank God for unanswered prayers". Life is so much sweeter when we accept and enjoy the serendipity.
Safe travels everyone!

LOL, meesthere -- we close on our "dream home" in August and we feel the same way -- oh noooo here come the BILLS! But I am so, so glad we finally found "home." We looked for 15 months and saw every available house on the market....it's been a long road! Glad yours was a little shorter!

I know my post made it sound like I live in the boondocks but I actually don't-not that I wouldn't like to. I actually live within walking distance of two major grocery stores, a public library, and a Super Walmart. I am just outside the city limits. In fact the city boundry line runs along my back fence.

Fourteen years ago we bought 9 acres on a dirt road north of town. There were about six houses here. No cable, no city gas, water or sewage. Now there are about 25 houses and we paved the road but still no other services. The area just grew up around us. But we are still sitting in the middle of 9 acres so I am not complaining. And boy how the value of these nine acres has increased!

The problem when the power goes out is that since our neighborhood has such low density (all the lots are big) and there are quite a few huge neighborhoods around, we don't have much priority on the repair schedule.

Jorr, at least we don't have snow storms!

Sunshinesue, so right about the electicity thing. Me and my neighbors average around 160 acres and we have No priority in getting electricity back up after a storm.

Can I please have one of those walking distance grocery stores?

Well, as I type I am looking out the window at Hurricane Dennis. I live a good ways east of Pensacola/Destin but the effects are far reaching. Our electricity died three hours ago and I am happy to report it was out about five seconds before the generator kicked in. Everything is working fine. This is such a luxury.

Bonnie, I am just waiting to see my neighbors lined up at the door!

Jorr, I would love to send you the Super Walmart!!!

Rave:
The U.S. Marine Band came to perform today in Orkney Springs, VA here in the Shenandoah Valley. How great they are.

If you are in DC this week, you can see them perform Wednesday at 8:00 p.m. at the U.S. Capitol or Thursday at 7:00 P.M. at the U.S. Marine War Memorial.

Rant: Terrorism.

Rave: My new job.

Rave: My upcoming trip to SF.