Bad Sandy, Good Dog, One Pic

Hurricane/Tropical Storm/Post Tropical Cyclone Sandy
roared through New Jersey yesterday.

She was not a nice guest.

At That Old House, Sandy tore hunks of roofing off and hurled them onto the sunroom roof, where they skidded to the ground,

and let me tell you, when a roof is made of translucent

poly-something-or-other, having hunks of roof

banging and skidding over it is very very noisy.

And scary.

Noisiest surprise -- a long length of gutter tore off the attic roof, 

hit the sunroom, and is still dangling half-on, half-off the house.

Lovely.

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But many places fared far, far worse, as you know if you haven't

been hiding under a rock.  New York City is reeling.
My husband has been staying at a midtown hotel since Sunday night.

He worked 13 hours on Monday, same today,
and will maybe get home late tomorrow night.

(Update: H says it is doubtful he will get home on Wednesday.  Bummer.)

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We don't know how our beach house in New York fared,

'way out on eastern Long Island's North Fork.

Southold cops closed the road leading to it --
 impassable because of floodwaters.

That's not a really good sign.

But as my Mom used to say, "If it doesn't bleed, don't worry about it."

And she was right.  Whatever happened to our beach house,
or to That Old House, is fixable.

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We are all safe and sound,
including our newest family member.

Photo courtesy of Cavalier Rescue.  He has been moving too fast for me to get a good shot!

He is a 3-year old tricolor Cavalier King Charles Spaniel,
and we adopted him Sunday afternoon from Cavalier Rescue.

He's a little bit of a boy, only 13 pounds, but he makes up for his
lack of size with loads of energy and curiosity.

And no manners.
This is not his fault.

He was given to Rescue by owners who could not
care for him, and he had about as much training (meaning none)
as a 6-month old puppy.  Only he's 3.

But we've trained lots of dogs in our time, with all sorts of issues,
and this guy needs us.  Like we need him.

He's adorably affectionate, and his favorite place to be
is curled up in someone's lap.  The closer the better.

I promise more pictures of him, and pictures of our house,
in tomorrow's blog post.  I am racing the power grid;
our electricity comes and goes; luckily for us,
it's been on for a few hours, 
that's liable to change at any moment.

Meanwhile -- please help us name our new boy!
We are changing his original name, as it might carry
"bad vibe" memories from his last home.

Anne and I have narrowed our choices to four:
1. Dylan
2. Pip
3. Hugo
4. Dickens
What's your vote?
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My heartfelt sympathy to the storm veterans who have lost their homes, and in some cases family or friends, to the terrible Sandy.  To any people from Canada to North Carolina, west to Michigan, who are soldiering on in primitive conditions -- we are praying for your welfare.  Many thanks -- more than can be expressed -- to the emergency and utility workers who perform miracles in these situations, and risk their own well being to do so.
You are amazing.
-- Cass