Hurrican IKE? in OHIO??

So, today we drove home from camping in PA and it started out a beautiful day. It was warm and sunny. I never would have imagined the next week would be spent without power due to hurricane IKE destruction!

We got home and went to church but the wind started blowing pretty hard and before church ended the power was down in the whole building. One of our bishopric members truck was crushed by a large branch blown down ontop his car. The winds kept picking up speed (up to 85 miles an hour) until late evening.

A neighbors tree fell on the next door house and crushed the roof.

A tree FULLY uprooted and lying across the street.

The strangest part was that it was still warm and absolutely dry! even with all the winds. It wasn't like the tornados we get here with dark and looming clouds. It wasn't scary at all -- which made it even more dangerous. People were outside and this tree actually landed on a car driving by (no one was seriously injured).

Anyway -- there was MUCH distruction in OHIO. In fact after Texas and one other state that was devistated by the storm Ohio was listed as most damage done ($550 Million worth of damage in the state - crazy)

I guess that is the DIS-advantage to having so many beautiful mature trees around. They all fell down. Here are some pictures (just on our street) of the damage done. Luckily the branch that fell in our backyard didn't hit anything but the ground. And the boys were helpful in cleaning up -- as always.

Being without power really made me grateful for the modern day luxuries. And reminded me how little it takes to feel USELESS! Motivation to get my food storage in order!