Tropical Storm Irene

The sunflowers took the brunt of the storm.

Milford made it! The hurricane was downgraded to a tropical storm before it hit Connecticut. It was noisy during the night with some strong winds and rain, but we didn't get hit nearly as hard as predicted. Unfortunately, the power went out at around 7 AM, and we're still without. My cell has been eating up its battery because it's searching so hard for a signal. I actually enjoyed the unplugging yesterday, even though I'm in the middle of redesigning my website and have tons of pictures to process. I'm back at work today, there's plenty of electricity in Shelton, so I'm sharing some of the pictures I took.

 Addy was thrilled to see the spider plant back in our room. I was not as excited because I had to constantly stop her from eating it.

Flags down at Walnut Beach with a down tree in the foreground.

Flooding down by the beach, but it drained relatively quickly. We didn't get nearly as much rain as the forecasters said.

The new condos right on the water suffered the most damage in my immediate neighborhood. These waves might not seem all that impressive, but for Milford and Long Island Sound, they're significant. The waves only come to your ankles on a normal day.

 It seemed like everyone in town came down to the beach with their cameras.

Driftwood

 More storm watchers

 Somewhere, a kid is crying over his lost sandcastle...

Even after the storm had gone, the winds were pretty significant down at the beach.

 Tree down

I was really surprised by the amount of stupid people that tried to drive down and through the massive pools of water. I had to take a picture of this one because it caused traffic to back up all the way up the street.

This is in front of the senior citizens center. There shouldn't be a lake here.

I was wondering about the birds and the squirrels during the storm. In case you're still keeping score, Sidewalk: 1, Buildings: 4, Birds: 1. I'm bad luck for birds; it's a long story...

On my way home, I noticed this awesome woody!

Addy got to lounge around while I helped clean up the yard. Although no massive limbs came down, there were plenty of sticks to pick up. No time like the present; the Napolitanos MUST have a perfect yard at all times.

By far, the best purchase I made was my book light and new books. I'm not sure how long it will be until we regain power, but I've got plenty to read.

Just so you don't think I'm a complete jerk,  I can easily include myself in those "stupid people" I mentioned earlier. I thought I could walk through one of those puddles unscathed because I didn't feel like walking around it. So for anyone that saw me fall as the ground dropped off under my feet, you're welcome! I'll be here all week! I was all grace as my left hand immediately shot to my camera and held it above water. Ah, the instincts of a photographer. Also, I cannot thank Crumpler enough. 

 

Their Tuft camera pouch says it's water resistant, and I'm here to tell you, they are 100% accurate on that. While I had my camera strapped around my neck, I put my cell phone in this pouch and clipped it onto my belt loop. It took a nice swim when I fell and my cell phone remained dry.

My soundtrack for exploring the damage was the first season of Lost. There is nothing better than trudging around on the beach to the walking theme from Lost, except for coming across that pigeon when the death theme was playing. I can't make this stuff up, y'all.