Colour me grateful

Hurricane Irene knocked our power out around 3 p.m. on Sunday, and to tell you the truth I was really, really glad to see darkness come. Watching all the big trees around us swaying like metronomes scared me half to death.

Better not to know what was happening out there.

It was a long night, made even better by the faint whiffs of skunk goodness which wafted off the head of our cat, Enid. We'd de-odorized her body with the vinegar/baking soda/dish soap mix, but decided not to get the mixture anywhere near her eyes. She'd been sprayed face first, so the cat was definitely stinkalicious.

Unlike the folks just south of us in Vermont, we were so very, very lucky. We only got about five inches of rain in 24 hours, and it came gradually, spread over the 24 hours, not in a big deluge.

Our � mile road up to our house held, it didn't wash out. We only had one tree down on our road and one on our hydro line.

Our road out of the village was flooded, but held. The bridge it leads to is sound. Exhausted Hydro Quebec crews got to our fairly isolated home and had our power back by suppertime Tuesday. We have a small generator, so we saved the food in our freezer and fridge.

Yes, it could have been a lot, lot worse. But man, it was scary.

None of us had had the nerve to go up the mountain into the sugar bush yet to see what's become of the maples. Probably this weekend.

Fingers crossed that Irene has been kind up there, too.

--Marn