While personal safety is of the utmost importance, what with this being the Parker forum and the East Coast having the greatest concentration of (as well as some of the finest) Parkers in the country, perhaps it isn't inappropriate to also hope for their protection as well? So, please everyone, take care of yourselves and your families, but after that is taken care of do what you can to protect those heirloom Parkers! Good luck, and our prayers are with you.

Tomorrow morning when those of us in New England wake up we will find that Hurrcane Irene was much more a media event than a weather event with any significant damage. the media and politicians use such events to get us glued to TV for their benefit, not ours. I am predicting several inches of rain and a little wind equal to a winter Nor'easter. It will be a non event and tomorrow we hear of changes in the weather pattern that couldn't be predicted weakening the storm and sparing us. Some day New England might be hit with a Hurricane of signifance like the one in '38. This ain't it.

Down here on the coast in CT we have 60 mph winds many trees and power lines down and alot of flooding. My street is impassable right now but we still have power as of now. Not the worst I've seen but a pretty messy day.

I agree, mostly hype from the weatherman, they shouldn't cry wolf so ofter. One of these times it will be real.

I'm on backup generator power but living in the woods I expect that when the wind blows at even moderate speeds.

I just wish it were over so the humidity would drop.

Pete, I'm going to hold off on the storm assessment until it's actually here. Right now about a mile from the shore in Braintree we're getting bursts of wind well over 50 mph and the storm won't be here for another couple hours. Sounds like a freight train outside but so far only a couple of 150 year old maples have lost 6" diameter limbs. My concern? Ground is saturated, not frozen and the treees are full of leaves. Glad I won't have to shovel it but I left my darn chain saw up north!

Jim ,Better head out right away and buy a new chain saw ,if there like Generators in Pa. after the first good Snow Storm ,the price will Triple over night ! Wish our investments would go that route for a change ! Best ; Russ

Media hype!! I agree Pete

Tomorrow is the first day of school for a great many New England towns, including the town in New Hampshire where my grandchildren live. In their infinite wisdon (fueled by 'media hype' from T.V., radio and the Internet) the School Boards have cancelled school in many of these towns. It will be a beautiful sunny day with stiff breezes in the morning but there will be no school on the very first day. Many schools are beginning a week earlier this year because of the 'snow days' last winter... also due to 'media hype'. What is happening to America?? Are we becoming a nation of sheep? The cancellation of school days has an enormous impact on families as well as the productivity of businesses where parents must take time off from work to be with their children :nono:

Yeah; the 'media blitz' has reached comic proportions here around the nations' capital. Unbelivably enough, we did not lose power, and its the first storm of any kind, even a summer thunderstorm, that did not knock it out! The local wisdom is that the new transformer substation they built after Hurricane Isabel a few miles up the road from us saved our bacon. We had the strong winds (max around here near Dulles Airport were around 30-40 with gusts up to 55mph) when she blew through here around 2AM Sunday morning. By 10AM the sky was sunshiney and bright with big fleecy clouds, temps in the hi 60s, and a wonderful breeze all morning long. Virtually no large trees down anywhere around, another miracle! Home Depots and Lowe's ran out of D-cell batteries and 8-ft. lengths of perforated as well as solid black plastic drain pipe by around 9AM Saturday. I wrote off the media after a sweet young thing cub reporter gushed just after the recent local earthquake near Charlottesville, VA: "Despite widespread damage on the ground, there does not appear to be any threat of a tsunami at this time."

Va. Beach got it for about 15 hours. The storm stalled after it came ashore in NC. I had no damage but I lost power and it is still out. I am using a generator so it isn't too bad. The tide was up aout 7 1/2 feet. Research letters will be slow for awhile.

If anybody needs any pine cones, I have millons you are welcome too.

Mark

:biglaugh::biglaugh::biglaugh: