My brother, who lives in Wilmington, NC (ground zero for H. Florence) finally got his power on yesterday -- it went out in the wee hours Friday morning. He is fine, as is his house, just a few branches down. He is in the highest part of Wilmington, not near the river or beach, so no flooding. Thank goodness for that! I am sure he was bored without power on for four days, but it sure beats the alternative. He is such a Luddite he doesn't even have a cell phone, and his landline requires electricity, so we didn't even know if he was okay until his power came back on. Needless to day, I (and my poor mom) had been quite worried. He doesn't realize how the media coverage really hyped this up, even in places that were not badly affected. Of course, some spots got hit much harder. Many of the places that suffered the most are in low-lying areas near rivers so have had flooding problems before.

Crankin, glad your son's house in Fayetteville is okay!

Back to our usual rides this week. I've been having to go to the orthodontist every Monday as we're getting close to the end of braces now, so my riding days have shifted to Tu, We, Fr. I do short rides around the campground (to the pool, dumpster, office, and sometimes just around) on my cruiser bike on most days, but the long rides are on those three days, which is working well. It's still very hot, low 90s for highs with heat index over 100 every day, humid, and we've been sunnier than usual as we're getting closer to the end of rainy season. Plus Florence sucked up a lot of the moisture. I actually miss the rain, as it helps cool things off -- and waters my plants. Time to go check the radar and figure out if I need to go out and water plants!