Ohio under state of emergency.

Remnants of Hurricane Ike, created up to 75 mph wind gusts throughout the state.

Our power went out Sunday, somewhere between 4 and 5pm. We just got it back on within the last half hour or so. Thank goodness we still had hot water, and were able to light the stove with matches to cook food. Hundreds of thousands of people in Ohio are still without electricity, and of course there hasn't been school yet this week. (Our local power company said as of earlier today, there were 40 schools - I'm guessing in this county alone - yet to have power up and running). So we've been "camping out" since Sunday afternoon. It's amazing how ingenious D can be in these situations! We actually had hot coffee, by slowly pouring a hot kettle of water through the basket in the coffee maker. :P

As for damage, we were lucky.. although we did have two humongous branches fall from the tree in front of the house. Others also fell, but these bad boys were just frightening to look at. Other people had entire trees uprooted, and the older man next door had a good chunk of tree delicately hanging above his roof. His son and son-in-law (with some help from neighbors) managed to get it down today, without much problem.

I realize that despite the lack of power being a huge pain in the butt - spoiling food, no cable or internet (LOL)- this is nothing compared to what thousands of people in the south are dealing with. My hearts go out to them, and I hope they can return home (or rebuild their homes) soon.