Still Without Services

I figured that I would pop on here real quick using Veronica's IPad.
We are still without telephone, cable and Internet service. Charter personnel told Veronica that everyone should have all of their services back within 3 days and that was as of yesterday.
I have all Hurricane Irene photos and videos ready to be uploaded onto this blog as soon as we get Internet services restored.
I had to make a run to the Post Office today.
It was real sad driving up the road and seeing these huge piles of people's belongs, furniture, rugs, mattresses and any other household item that you could imagine, along the side of the road. There were lots of huge piles near the trailer park.
I saw lots of people just dragging things from their homes and throwing them on their pile.
As you will see once I am able to upload all of the photos and videos, that Veronica and I were very lucky that we did not get flooded out.
I will be back on this blog as soon as Charter Communications gets us up and running again.
Veronica finally got electricty back in her store so they are back open for business. her TJ Maxx store suffered minimal damage and that was to an awning that is in the back side of her store.

Hurricane Irene Kicked Our Butts

The last 48 hours has been interesting to say the least. The first half of the hurricane was uneventful and I figured that it was going to be a piece of cake. Just a little rain and wind. Then the eye of the hurricane passed by us and the wind changed direction. The next thing we new was that all of the water that had been sucked out of the bay and Into the sound came rushing back into the bay. It came into the bay like a raging and rushing river. Next thing we knew, it looked like our place was going to be flooded. We had rush around and grab whatever we could to get it up to the second floor.
The water rose and stopped just 2 feet shy of the back wall of our computer/storage room that is on the ground floor.
We watched this whole thing from start to finish. I was able to get some great video and photos of this whole event along with photos of some damaged houses in the area. We lost electricity until just tonight. It was a hot and miserable 30 or so hours without a/c, especially with all of the water and moisture around. No warm water for showers plus we were worried about losing all of our refrigerated food items. We still have no Internet, cable or telephone service.
I am doing this blog entry from the IPad that I got Veronica recently.
Without phone service, Internet, electricity, cable or any other services to the outside world, this device came in quite handy.
As soon as we get Internet service back, I will be uploading lots of videos and photos of our experiences with Hurricane Irene.
Veronica and I are safe and sound and because we did not have any other distractions to keep us occupied...except for the hurricane of course, we were able to spend some quality time during this weather event.
I even allowed myself to get talked into helping clean up her craft room, which is no small chore let me tell you. We also spent the day getting our home back into the condition it was in prior to the hurricane arriving...this too was no small chore because I had dragged several wardrobe boxes and various cameras and electronics up to the second floor and out of our ground level computer/storage room.
One thing that I forgot to mention was That as fast the water rose, when I woke up this morning, 80 percent of the water had receded and there were cars on the road.
Stay tuned for the videos and photographs taken during this hurricane.
I will post them as soon as I have Internet service.

Videos Of Hurricane Irene

Here are a few videos taken from the safety of my garage. The winds are supposed to pick up quite a bit as the day goes by. I will be uploading more in a bit depending on whether the electricity stays on.

Out And About Photos Before Hurricane Irene Arrives

Veronica and I decided to take a ride to see what businesses had been boarded up to protect them from Hurricane Irene.
I apologize up front for the quality of some of the photos. They were taken through rainy windows, between the movements of the wiper blades or out of the side windows.
Our area was pretty desolate with few cars on the road and only one convenience/gas station that just reopened as we were taking a photo of their boarded up business.
Here are some of the sights that we saw while driving around before Hurricane Irene arrived here:

First stop was at the Ramada Inn. This is where we were thinking about riding this hurricane out. This is also where the Weather Channel personnel have set up shop along with numerous other news trucks from around the country. There were quite a number of satellite dishes on these various trucks. The vehicles below are carrying fuel on top of their vehicles. The fuel is for the generators used on the satellite news trucks

Below is Five Guys Burgers that is all boarded up

Below is Taco Bell

Burger King is below

Slowest and emptiest 7/11 you will ever see

This is Veronica's store. Really nice board job wouldn't you agree?

Various houses along the ocean front road and various other locations

Even the Colington Fire Department got boarded up

Not sure how well this mobile home on stilts will fare during this hurricane.

Below is the Kill Devil Hills Post Office

Hurricane Irene Update

All of our preparations are finished so now it is time to play the waiting game. Hurricane Irene is currently South of us and will most likely make landfall just South of us also. As it stand right now, it appears that Hurricane Irene will come in as a category 2 storm. The pressure at the center of the storm is 946mb which is a very low barometric pressure and those low numbers are usually seen in Category 3 or stronger hurricanes.
Some of the most Northern rain bands of Irene are just about to hit Hatteras.
This is a huge storm that is moving rather slowly, so it will linger for quite some time after it arrives here.
It is currently 85 degrees and somewhat sunny outside as the sun peaks through the clouds. There isn't much of a breeze here yet but that will all change as we get closer to the arrival of Hurricane Irene.

The Calm After The Storm

Veronica and I made it back home safe and sound.
Upon arriving on the Outer Banks, we really did not see much on the main drag that would indicate a hurricane came through.
Sure there was some pools of rain water here and there, a couple of branches down but nothing that really stood out and said "Earl Was Here".
Most businesses were still closed except for maybe some gas stations.
As soon as we arrived home, Veronica had to jump in her vehicle and go to the store so that she could get it ready for business.
I emptied the car and put everything away at home.
I also had to clean up some water that had made its way into our bedroom, through the sliding glass doors.
I ended up getting around a gallon of water up. The carpets is still pretty damp but I have a fan blowing on it so that it will dry out.
The only other damage was some rain getting into our storage shed, that is attached to the backside of our garage.
It got a few boxes wet but nothing major.
All in all, we fared pretty well.
No flooding, no broken windows and best of all....the electricity stayed on so we don't have to replace all of our refrigerated and frozen food items.
Now maybe we can start focusing on more pleasant things, like our upcoming vacation.
We leave her in a little over 3 days....finally!

On Our Way Out Of Town

Veronica and I woke this morning to a mandatory evacuation of all residents and visitors in Nags Head.
Nags Head is just up the road from us and it is also where the T J Maxx store is located.
Veronica went in early to get the store prepared for closing.
I stayed behind and finished packing the car up and doing a few other odd jobs in preparation for Hurricane Earl's arrival.
As soon as Veronica finishes closing up the store, we will be heading out of town.
We will be staying at a hotel that is approximately 2 hours and 100 miles away from here.
I am hoping the the low pressure system that they keep taking about, arrives in time to push Hurricane Earl just a bit to the East.
I am hoping also that upon arrival back at our place, that all windows are intact and that there is no flooding in our home.
Time to get out of here.
I will try to give an update as time allows.

Hurricane Preparation

I went to pick up Veronica from work. I arrived to find these workers busy boarding up the front of the T J Maxx building in anticipation of the arrival of Hurricane Earl.

They are talking about the hurricane arriving here tomorrow night although we will get bands of rain and wind before then.

 The store will be open tomorrow. The time that it will close will depend on when  storm arrives here. Veronica and I will be there when the store closes. I will be helping them put up a frame where the only  unboarded open door is. Once we get the door frame screwed in we will then put up the plywood pieces...kind like putting a puzzle together. The plywood sections will then be screwed to the frame. Hopefully it won't take too long to do this task because I am sure it will be raining and the wind will have picked up some by that time.

T.J. MAXX Arrives On The Outer Banks

When Veronica and I first came to the Outer Banks to check the area out, the "buzz" about TJ Maxx coming had already started.
Everyone that we spoke to was very excited about having a new TJ Maxx locally.
Although there are other retailers in the area, we kept hearing about people driving for 1 - 1 1/2 hours to do their shopping in the Virginia Beach and Chesapeake and going to the TJ Maxx stores in those locations.
As time went by, the "buzz" and the excitement grew amongst the locals.
Yesterday was a big day, not just for those living on the Outer Banks but for Veronica also.
She has been putting in very long days and nights, leading up to and culminating in the Grand Opening of the new TJ Maxx, that is located in Nags Head.
Veronica got up early yesterday morning and headed to the Grand Opening of her new store.
I arrived in the parking lot shortly after 7AM, with my trusty camera in tow.
When I first arrived, the parking lot was just about empty.
It didn't take long for the people to come.
It was like one of those "Field of Dreams" moments...build it and they will come. And came they did!
One of the first groups to arrive was a group of local ladies. I watched as they pulled out a couple of tables and various other items and started to setup "shop" right there in the parking lot.
At first I thought that they were part of the TJ Maxx crew or someone hired to hand out drinks and food to the people that showed up for the Grand Opening ceremony, but I soon found out that they were having a tail gate party...kind of like what you would see on race day or at a football game, but minus the bar-b-que grill.
They saw me standing around with my camera in hand and asked if I was with some of the local newspapers covering the event. I told then no...that my official title was husband of the store manager.
They requested that I take a photo of them together. Not being one to shy away from a photo opportunity, I eagerly took their picture.
The area quickly filled up with local politicians and dignitaries, people from the TJ Maxx company and quite a number of locals, who were all eager to get inside the new store and commence their shopping experience.
During the overall ceremony, Veronica handed over a sizable donation to a local charity and there was an official ribbon cutting after a few brief speeches by various people, Veronica included.
As soon as all of the ceremonies were completed, the doors of the very first TJ Maxx on the Outer Banks were officially opened to the eager shoppers.

Early morning before the ceremony began..an almost empty parking lot, but not for long. The vehicles on the right hand side of this photo was where the tailgating party was.

A local tailgating party for the Grand Opening of TJ Maxx...never seen this done before, for the opening of a new store, but you got to love their enthusiasm. I do believe that this might be a group of Maxxinistas. And what are Maxxinistas, you might ask....

Maxx-in-is-ta (max-uh-nee-stuh) noun: a fashionista who gets it all for much, much less at T.J.Maxx

Veronica greeting one of the local Mayors that attended the event

Veronica handing over the charity donation

The early morning crowds before the official opening

The ribbon cutting ceremony

Let the real festivities begin...it's time to SHOP!!!

Before I left the area, I took a few photos of the full parking lot.

Veronica worked a ton of long days and nights to make this all happen on her end of things. I am very very proud of everything that she accomplished. Great job hon!!!!