The Aftermath

The day after Hurricane Irene struck, I was on the screened-in back porch, listening to the rain, trying to wake myself, amazed I was seeing cars traveling on Watnong Road.

The rain was coming down hard but I heard the “thief!” call of a blue jay.

Jays are not my favorite bird. They are noisy and hit the feeder hard and often, scaring off everything else. They will attack the young of others, as I saw one do with a baby house wren at the nest box.

Today I’d never heard a sweeter call.

We all remember the story of Noah sending out a dove that came back with an olive branch, giving hope the water was receding. The next time the dove was sent it did not return because the worst was over.

Birds are wonderful indicators of both good and bad. Days before the tsunami hit Indonesia a few years ago, birds were among those quickly leaving the area. Many people didn’t take the hint.

In my yard, when the pair of cardinals started calling to each other I knew the rain was ending, the water table would recede and the worst was over.

We came through relatively unscathed in my part of Morris Plains. Dripping from the ceiling into the attic and then into a smoke detector set it off around 2 am, scaring me out of a deep, dreamless sleep. My husband (MH) was awake, and would ultimately be awake for 34 straight hours tracking the storm, checking the attic (once he’d plugged the leak and put in tarps and buckets to catch any water) and especially checking on the sump pump that ran regularly all night as the water table rose.

After noon today it was the wind that became a problem. One past hurricane, Floyd, didn’t hurt us as he blew through, but the backlash winds blew over a tree that took out the power lines for several days, forcing us to bring perishables to MH‘s parents, then a few towns away in Madison.

I remembered they now live in New Hampshire when, around 2pm, the winds picked up and the power went off.

Mercifully, it quickly came back on and has stayed on.

After already taking brush to the curb for pickup three times I will be rising early tomorrow to get the last of it. I will also put the thistle feeder back outside for the goldfinches and add the house feeder with sunflower seeds for the cardinals, my way of thanking them for reminding me there’s always hope.

I won’t even mind the jay coming to call.