Well, we dodged the bullet this time! Hurricane Isabel came ashore farther away, moved twice as fast, and degraded far quicker than the forecasts. I feel bad for the people in N.C. and VA that got whacked, but all we got were some impressive sustained winds of 40+ and about 3" of rain. While that was enough to flood the patio, the new ditch/drain pipe that I installed a few months ago did its work and kept the floor dry inside, and I think it even helped keep the water level fairly low in the floor vents. I can hear water in there, but I can't see it or reach it with a shop-vac, so it must be a fairly small amount in the lowest parts of the system.

We suffered no damage other than quite a mess to clean up - the front and back yards are strewn with leaves and pine needles, as well as small branches and such. The pool caught its share as well, needs a good skimming and vaccuming before we close it down for the year.

Last night we watched the rest of the 3rd season of Buffy - the showdown fight with the Mayor, etc. Then we watched the weather channel and local news until the lights started flickering a lot, so we went to bed and read until 12:35, when the power went out. I was constantly getting up to check things as the wind and rain continued, and finally things settled down around 2, when I got to sleep.

Hopefully the power will come back on soon - or we will be making all sorts of frozen items on the BBQ grill. Good thing we stocked up on aluminum foil!