Jeff (JDaniel): y'all okay?

[Chip_B]

I tried to find your phone number, but failed miserably.

Are you and your family okay? What sort of effects did you get from Ivan?

Please get in touch.

-Chip

[JDaniel]

I tried to find your phone number, but failed miserably.

Are you and your family okay? What sort of effects did you get from Ivan?

Please get in touch.

-Chip

Hey Chip - we were very fortunate here in Birmingham. We got a lot of wind and rain, but the house and family were safe and sound. I lost a couple of trees on the property (only found them this a.m. - Sat). We just got as prepared as possible, then waited it out. We were without power for 12 hours or so. At one point, almost 1 million Alabamians were w/o power. So, as I said, we were very fortunate.

OT - T-minus 2 hours until kickoff. I think your Gators should win, considering our freshman QBs. But I'm holding out hope. Go Vols. Also, I sent you, and a few other RRers, a new comp this week. Should be at your door Mon or Tues.

I'll PM you my phone numbers. You can call and rub in the Gator win (hopefully not).

Jeff

[Smokey]

Glad you are OK JD.

Cheers

[Swish]

Hey Chip - we were very fortunate here in Birmingham. We got a lot of wind and rain, but the house and family were safe and sound. I lost a couple of trees on the property (only found them this a.m. - Sat). We just got as prepared as possible, then waited it out. We were without power for 12 hours or so. At one point, almost 1 million Alabamians were w/o power. So, as I said, we were very fortunate.

OT - T-minus 2 hours until kickoff. I think your Gators should win, considering our freshman QBs. But I'm holding out hope. Go Vols. Also, I sent you, and a few other RRers, a new comp this week. Should be at your door Mon or Tues.

I'll PM you my phone numbers. You can call and rub in the Gator win (hopefully not).

Jeff

I'm a big fan and so is my wife, so it'll get some spins in our house and cars. Anyway, glad to hear you survived the storm. We had lots of rain and heavy winds Friday and into Saturday, and many nearby towns near the rivers in PA have evacuated the people who are in harms way. The Susquehana River, which runs through our capitol city of Harrisburg, is expected to crest today, or already has, so the worst will be realized before the day is out. There have been reports at the bottom of all the tv stations since yesterday and it's amazing how many towns are affected by it up here. We certainly didn't catch the brunt of it like you did down South, but it still had something left for us days later.

Regards,
Swish

[JDaniel]

Thanks Chip, Smokey (long time no see Smoke), and Swish for the well-wishes. I'll tell you, as Chip found out with the earlier hurricanes, it's one thing to see them on CNN, quite another to prepare for one and go through one.

Glad you got the Lucinda Williams comp Swish - hope you like it. It's a sort of travel through time with her albums. Could have easily done a 2-fer, but kept it to one disc. I love that lady's music. A few others around here should have it by Mon. or Tues.

JD

[dean_martin]

Hey Chip - we were very fortunate here in Birmingham. We got a lot of wind and rain, but the house and family were safe and sound. I lost a couple of trees on the property (only found them this a.m. - Sat). We just got as prepared as possible, then waited it out. We were without power for 12 hours or so. At one point, almost 1 million Alabamians were w/o power. So, as I said, we were very fortunate.

OT - T-minus 2 hours until kickoff. I think your Gators should win, considering our freshman QBs. But I'm holding out hope. Go Vols. Also, I sent you, and a few other RRers, a new comp this week. Should be at your door Mon or Tues.

I'll PM you my phone numbers. You can call and rub in the Gator win (hopefully not).

Jeff

Ivan came ashore in Gulf Shores, AL just west of Pensacola, FL. I'm located in Atmore which is on the AL/FL line about 45 mi. due north of P'cola. Unfortunately, we were in the dreaded northeast quandrant and suffered sustained winds of what seemed like more than 100 mph from about 2:30am - 4:30am Thurs. At about 1:00am the winds really began to pick up and I became concerned about my home and property. At 2:30am, as my family and I huddled in the middle of our house, I became more concerned for our lives. I was 11 when Frederic came thru back in '79. Fred was nothin' compared to Ivan. Our town is still devasted. I live at the edge of our town's main business district and our's was one of the first homes to get power back yesterday (Sat.) afternoon. We lost 3 huge trees, one of which is still on our house. Fortunately, the tree did not penetrate the roof and we haven't found any leaks. Tree services are so busy that it may be the middle of the week before it's removed. Our city has had water throughout this ordeal thanks to our tireless public servants. We've had convoys of power company trucks working constantly. I don't know where all of them are from, most of the truck logos don't look familiar, but I wish I could thank all of them. We were able to hold a church service this morning which was extremely emotional.

Seeing the devastation on that first morning out was eerie. I had this terrible sinking feeling like life had changed dramatically. But, it didn't take long for neighbors to begin checking on each other. We brought the BBQ grill out and made coffee and cooked for family and friends as we cleaned. People who had chain saws helped those who didn't and by Sat. afternoon we began to see the light at the end of the tunnel - some who are still waiting on power are just a little farther away than others. Laundrymats have opened (you wouldn't believe how fast you use up your clothes cleaning up debris), a Wal-Mart in a neighboring town is open. A couple of gas stations have gas. McDonald's has opened with a limited menu. We're on our way back. My son took some pictures around town with his digital camera. He's downloading them for me tonight and I plan on posting some tomorrow. Now I'm off to bed for some much needed rest.

[Dave_G]

Here in hurtin Atlanta we got a lot of wind and tons of rain but nothing really too bad, lots of trees down and all that, it was basically like a strong storm that we get here all the time anyway so it wasn't that bad, but I tell ya these school administrators are paranoid, most schools closed and all, pretty amazing.

Glad ya'll boyz in 'Bama are allright!

Dave

[JDaniel]

DM - glad you were safe - that's the most important thing. I have a co-worker from Brewton, which is near you. They had a lot of damage too.

When our power came back on after 12 hours, the first CNN report we saw was right in front of the Orange Beach condo we always stay at - the roof was gone, and balconies collapsed, but the sign (Sapphire Beach) was still there.

I'm supposed to go on a school field trip with my boys in three weeks. We were staying in Orange Beach, and touring Mobile, Mobile Bay, Fairhope, and Dauphin Island. I guess now that trip is off (waiting on an announcement from school).

Dave Geezer - glad you guys made it ok. And lay off the school system - your kids need a free day off once in a while.

JD