I have to admit that until the  Nor'easter hit on Thursday, Nov. 11th, I always thought a Nor'easter was something only Maine fishermen experienced.  Actually, we thought it was kind of funny to see eastern Virginia and North Carolina going into a panic over a little rain and wind.  Plans were announced for tunnels closing, businesses and homes in Norfolk and Virginia Beach started blocking doorways with sandbags, weather news began broadcasting almost 24 hours a day.  By Thursday night, however, we were convinced that a Nor'easter is no joke.  5 inches of rain fell, winds picked up to 40-50 mph in some places.  News broadcasts showed streets flooding in Virginia Beach, Norfolk and Chesapeake, made worse by the 7ft. above normal high tides.    In the Outer Banks, streets were flooded in Kitty Hawk and Nags Head as the ocean overwashed the sand dunes.  Roads and bridges were closed because of flooding and sand washing onto the roads.

See some images from Nags Head, NC here:  http://media.wvec.com/images/323*430/IMG_0686-4.JPG

Bill and I hunkered down indoors for the next couple of days.  The driving rain and high winds howled outdoors reminding us of the sounds of blizzards we had experiences in central New York.  Surprisingly (for us), it wasn't cold.  Temperatures stayed in the 60s, so even though it was miserable out, we only ran our heat once. By Friday night, it was still raining.  Rainfall had reached over 7 inches in 48 hours, high tide was almost 8ft above normal, winds had reached up to 75mph in some areas.  Basically, Virginia Beach and Norfolk were flooded, many trees down and power outages in those areas.  Luckily, we did not have either flooding or power outages where we live.  Our subdivision must be built right with good drainage, because our street never flooded, nor did our lawns.  There was some water on our new patio, but nothing serious.  Our worst damage came from a leak somewhere in the RV.  The driving rain from the north east came in and soaked the rug by the driver's door.  We still can't figure out what leaked, but a lot of water came in.

Gemini had cabin fever and kept crying to go out.  When we opened the door for him, he stuck his head out far enough to get wind and rain in his face and backed up into the house again.  Poor cat, he kept trying, but it just didn't get better.

One good thing came of our being housebound.  We unpacked several boxes of handpainted china and paintings, and spent a couple of days reframing pictures and hanging them in various empty spots around the house.  It was fun bring some of my and my brothers' paintings to the light of day again, and we both enjoy seeing the artwork on the walls after being packed away for so long.