582590main_Irene-GOES-LARGE-20110826 — NASA Satellite Image of Irene off Coast of Eastern Seaboard

“Goodnight, Irene, goodnight, Irene. I’ll see you in my dreams . . .” ~ American Folk Song (1932)

Sunday afternoon, post Irene. Sunny and hot.

We were very, very fortunate. Irene blew through here and left downed trees and power lines, crushed cars, upended swimming pools, downed fences and sheds, street flooding, and loss of power for over 800,000 homes.

Even though we live mere feet from an inlet, we did not have any flooding. We lost power for about six hours, with intermediate flickers for a minute or two. We have power, water, and minimal tree damage. Our biggest loss was a picnic table that my former father-in-law built for us in 1988. I count us very, very lucky. No one in the family suffered any major damage, and as far as I know, none of our family friends or acquaintances suffered losses.

Here are some images of the area and the devastation in the wake of the storm (pulled from the wavy.com site) :

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19558-hurricane-irene-virginia-de644 — I believe this is off Granby Street, one of the local rivers.

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19791-hurricane-irene-virginia-e57ca — Tree damage and street flooding were common in the area.

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19601-hurricane-irene-virginia-422bb — The Chesapeake Bay from Ocean View as Irene approached.

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19846-hurricane-irene-virginia-4b0aa — An example of car damage

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19854-Hurricane Irene — Coastal flooding

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Regular post later. Peace.

I took this quiz that measures an individual’s place on the political spectrum! The quiz lets users know where they fall on “social liberties, economics, foreign policy— even the culture war. The quiz includes 50 questions.

Based on my results, I fall to the left of average, and slightly more to the left and more Libertarian for test takers who are women (255,175 total), who live in Virginia (17,359), who are Pacific Islanders (2,115), and who live in the U.S. (536,591). Interestingly, I fall slightly to the right and down (one space to the right and one space down) for test takers who are U.S. Democrats (138,441). Virginian test-takers fall almost squarely in the middle.

Compass: You are a center-left moderate social libertarian. Left: 2.97, Libertarian: 3.49

Foreign Policy:
On the left side are pacifists and anti-war activists. On the right side are those who want a strong military that intervenes around the world. You scored: -5.25

Culture:
Where are you in the culture war? On the liberal side, or the conservative side? This scale may apply more to the US than other countries. You scored: -6.56