Welcome to Hurriquake week on the East Coast(or as we like to call it, the Right Coast).

My last weekend before school started kept me busy camping with Allison and another girl from my scout troop. We packed up and headed out on Friday evening after Tom took my van in to get a small crack repaired on the windshield. Of course I caught a small rock from a truck to the front windshield while driving back from Detroit.

Friday was overcast and a bit chilly so most of the girl's evening activities were indoors. Parents staying for the weekend are assigned different jobs and have an orientation to attend as well. This year I had attendance. In the past I have helped monitor the swimming pool, did archery and made tie dye shirts all day long. Last year Allison had field hockey games all day SAturday so she could not attend. Instead, I drove up to camp myself and taught a class on the use of crafts and the OT profession. This year the girls earned 3 badges-All About Birds, Graphic Communications and another Archery badge for Allison. The bird badge I thought was interesting-I did not know there was a cage of raptors on site at the camp. They had owls, hawks, an eagle and young turkey vulture-all injured at some point. With the graphic communications badge the girls learned all about advertising and using computer programs to make displays. They also had to cut out and design their own prints. And Allison just enjoyed another chance to shoot archery. She had planned on doing some tie dye, so she packed a few pieces including a cami and a scarf. Since she ran out of time to tie dye, I did it for her. I even volunteered to help rinse out the shirts Sunday morning, but the volunteers already had left early for a local laundramat(something the instructor swore she would never do again). So the pieces were already washed and dried for all the girls to take home when I arrived. I thought my pieces came out pretty good too!

We got home Sunday morning with plenty of time to attend the Comic Con that Scott and Tom were looking forward to attending. Even Allison thought it would be interesting, but she swore none of her books/comics would be available. She did not think her comic interests ranked with such comics as Spiderman or Thor. Scott mostly looks forward to dressing up. Last year he and his friend Sammy dressed as Mario and Luigi and they got a lot of attention(and photos). This year SCott asked Tom if he could go as a Mario Zombie. They found the costume on line and Tom put one together for him. Scott had outgrown his overalls which Mario wears, so Tom had to cut them and tuck them into a pair of jeans. The hat and mustache finished it off along with a zombie face painting. I had to ask Tom to wrap SCott in a blanket so he wouldn't get fake blood all over my new van seats. Again, Scott was a hit-everyone wanted his photo. And there were lots of adults dressed up as well. Captain America was very popular this year along with the Green Hornet-just wait until Halloween. Scott carried around a skull with a mustache and green hat-all that was left of his partner Luigi. The guys especially thought that was hysterical. And Allison even enjoyed finding some of her favorite comic books as well as a new author who autographed the book she bought from him and even drew in a cartoon on the back of the front cover. We were just happy to have made it downtown in one piece since a huge thunderstorm hit just as we were leaving the house. The Baltimore Convention Center where it was held had a few leaks in the roof, and we could barely see the buildings downtown through the rainy haze when we were driving in. It was also extremely crowded since Stan Lee, creator of Spiderman and Marvel Comic Books was the guest lecturer. Tickets for his program were sold out at $125.00 per person! Baltimore does love to read!

During the week, Allison was busy each day with 1 or 2 field hockey practice sessions in the morning and afternoon with the Varsity team. She was surprised that several girls from her previous JV team were cut, but competition is always pretty tight.

Scott was busy spending his last week before school starts at the YMCA. No special events, but he got to swim and try to stay dry during on and off t -storms and rain.

And just when we thought things couldn't get any crazier, the east coast decided to have an earthquake. I was at work in an older building with windows for a change and couldn't figure out what was shaking the floor and walls. There is a lot of construction going on at campus-they are building new elevators on each of our buildings, remodeling the pool and Fitness center and main entrance as well as our auditorium and completely remodeling an entire building with larger apartments. So I thought maybe a truck was going by but the shaking did not stop. I finally figured out it was an earthquake and mentioned it to both of my patients that I was treating. We turned the radio on after the shaking stopped and learned that we had just had a 5.8 quake near Richmond, VA about 3 hours drive from our house. I felt like I was right back in LA. Allison was home alone and immediately jumped under our high counter with the dog. Cookie was howling and they both ran outside with the neighbors when it was over. Scott was at camp and said their canopy was shaking all over. They both knew it was a quake. Tom was at work and said they emptied his building-twice. No one here really knew what to do. The quake was felt as far north as Canada and down to Georgia in the south. DC took the most damage here in the area. The tall Washington monument has a crack in the top and the National Cathedral lost a few spires. There was also a lot of ceiling plaster that came down in the Capitol and many other older buildings. We checked for damage to the brick and looked for gas leaks but looks like we held up just fine. Tom and I thought it felt like a 5.0 here in Ellicott City.

Because buildings needed to be inspected, evening activities were cancelled at all schools and public buildings. Allison was supposed to attend a drivers training class in order to obtain a parking permit for school any time this school year. She and Tom attended instead on Weds night. Allison had to have a parent with her to sign her off. They got to watch nasty movies on teens dying in cars while drinking and texting. She then had a student sports orientation during the day at school on Weds, and I attended the parents sports orientation meeting on Thursday night and signed up for lots of fund raising activities for Allison's field hockey team. She also started up her piano lessons this week. Isn't back to school time so much fun!

Meanwhile, Scott spent some extra time working with Tom to finish up his first level in Scouts-Tenderfoot. He also turned in his cards to receive his 3 badges he earned this summer. They were planning a ceremony the following weekend, but had to post pone due to the Hurricane.

More fun info on the Hurricane during my next blog. I am including a few photos from our minor league baseball game where Allison and I sang the National Anthem with the girl scout choir. Also Allison's archery skills and Scott's Mario costume at Comic Con. Kathleen