After the storm

We totally lucked out with Sandy.
The giant storm brought about 4 inches of rain and some howling winds to Unionville on Monday, but (unlike the Jersey Shore and New York) damage seemed to be minimal. Homeowners will be picking up a lot of sticks for sure, but the downed trees that I saw while I was out and about on Tuesday looked like they had already been dead or pretty close to it (like the big one along Route 82 at Chesterland).
During Hurricane Irene last fall, the little creek in front of my house went way over the road; this time it wasn't even close to overflowing. The Brandywine Creek, of course, flooded at Routes 926 and 100, to no one's surprise.
A lot of people lost power; we did twice, but it came back on promptly, nothing like the week-long outage that was being predicted. A friend in Kennett admitted he was actually a little disappointed he didn't get to use his tiny camp stove. Some friends who live on more remote roads, though, reported extended outages.
A high-school friend who was out of power until Friday reports that her husband was on his way home when an electric company employee flagged him down and said his truck was stuck in the field; did he by any chance have a tractor to pull it out?
"Long story short: David pulled the truck out and then they came and reconnected our power! One good turn leads to another."
Friends with horses were relieved that the creatures fared perfectly well during the storm. One friend said she was so busy preparing for all of her animals' needs that she forgot to stock up on food for the human occupants of her house until the last minute. The Giant, she said, looked pretty much like it usually does on any other Monday morning. (I was there on Tuesday and everything looked pretty well stocked.)
I spotted a few segments of post-and-rail fence that had collapsed, and at one Unionville house along Route 82 a chunk of wooden privacy fence was definitely askew. An East Marlborough friend was concerned that the Buddha statue in her garden might go airborne, but true to his nature he stayed perfectly grounded.
I didn't hear much about flooded basements. One friend was reminiscing about the basement of an apartment house where he used to live: "It was viable frog habitat down there, because there were viable frogs living there."
Our West Marlborough road crew did a fantastic job; in fact,. I took them some cookies on Tuesday to thank them for their hard work and for keeping us so well updated online. Via Facebook they let us know the status of roads and repeatedly asked residents to report any power outages so they could help. Great customer service, guys!
I was reminded of how badly people elsewhere were hit by the storm when a Facebook friend posted that she is weary of seeing campaign commercials on TV. Commented a friend of hers from Branchburg, N.J.: "At least you are seeing ads...we still have no power....wondering how voting is going to happen when we have no electricity and no gas."