Off Topic - That Was the Week It Was - September 4, 2011

If you're looking for the latest Big Brother 13 live feeds update, it's this post, not THIS post.

It's Sunday morning and, unlike last Sunday, it's time for my (usually) weekly look back on the week gone by in both words and photographs I've taken along the way. I didn't post last Sunday due to an extended power outage due to Hurricane Irene. My power went out late Saturday night and didn't come on again until Monday morning. During Monday, it went out twice again for much shorter periods of time. However, I had it easier than many of my friends in Manville and Bound Brook during the storm.

For only the second time since living here (ten years), my own street flooded and had to be closed down. I didn't go out for any storm photos as my power was out -- no elevator with me still getting around with a crutch after my knee setback. From my own windows which look off to the side, the storm didn't look that impressive. Yet, when I went out on Tuesday, I noticed the water marks on the front part of the building were over a foot high. Our front foyer, which is lower than ground level (steps down to it outside, then steps up to the first floor inside) must have flooded.

I'm not sure when my power went out Saturday night -- I woke up around 4 AM all sweaty because my fan went off. Since I couldn't get back to sleep, I sat in my recliner chair by the window and watched explosions of transformers and wires being brought down by falling trees light up the night sky. It was almost surreal, like lightning close to the horizon with no lightning bolts or thunder. As I watched, I feared my power might be out a long, long time.

I'm lucky. Some of my friends STILL have no power as I get this written. Plus, I have no worries about storm damage. I live on the second floor of a three story apartment building. If a tree were to fall, it would hit the top floor. If a flood were to happen, it would be the basement and first floor.

The storm made the week a bit weird. I still see some wires down on the street. Hopefully they're just cable wires at this point. All of the intersections with traffic lights still boast flare dust from when cops were there through the night, then day, then night again. I had my police scanner on through the storm and my outage listening to water rescues and the various emergency responses. The Plainfield Police and Fire Departments get my kudos for a job well done!

Let's see ... what else has been going on? Oh! I found out that the stomach bug I had is indeed something that's going around. The mother of one of my friends was actually hospitalized with it. I know since my operation, my immune system is weaker than normal, so that's probably why I caught it and why it hit me so hard.

The knee continues to improve from its setback. Unfortunately, a lot of my recent physical therapy has had to focus on the kneecap dislocation rather than the knee replacement. My PT says that he has patients coming in solely for therapy for that. Ack. I've worked myself back down from the crutch to a cane while outside the apartment. But I still feel like it's unstable and I'm taking it real slow. Inside, I'm not using anything, but I'm not dashing about for sure!

Anyway ... onto the photos. My apologies again for no storm photos!

I come from New Jersey with my cap upon my knee

Second Street, Scotch Plains.

Mushroom

Tons of fungi all over the place both before and after Irene due to the historically wet summer.

Another

A gathering of the 'shrooms

A lone 'shroom

I read where some folks have been eating the local mushrooms and have had to be hospitalized. That would never happen to me. I'm only a fan of photographing them. I don't care for eating them even when they're not poisonous.

Where the water came from?

I took this shot from in front of my building. The Green Brook runs in back of those apartments across the street from me. It's usually a small brook -- sometimes down to maybe twelve feet wide in spots, perhaps 20-25 feet at its widest in the area. Apparently it grew big enough to make my own street into a raging river during Irene.

My taped up kneecap.

My knee is swollen just because it's swollen. It's splotchy because I had ice on it at the end of PT. The scar is healing nicely, though!

Yet another mushroom

Snoopy window

East Second Street, Plainfield

Pretty in pink

Flowers brighten up a set of weathered steps on Berckman Street in Plainfield.

Silly tiny bikes

How can they ride these things? Those seats look SO uncomfortable! Scotch Plains.

Camera shy

That human will never find me!
I'll become one with the tree!
Call me a treehugger

Yet another mushroom

You NEED to put that camera down and play with me!

Okay, Vincent. Whatever you want ...