It felt as if we had weeks to dread Hurricane Helene. The weather service tracked it from nothing, to strong winds, and then the named stages of a tropical storm to a massive hurricane that slammed Florida. It was almost a relief when the clouds rolled through and we could get started with the North Carolina version of the storm. I have no idea how much rain we were to get or how strong the winds would be, and the ending totals varied as it progressed. I can tell you there was a LOT of rain and winds that seemed weak much of the time.

Grandson David and Brit were concerned about a tree falling on their house, so they asked for asylum on our street. David stayed here with their dog, and Brit was officially with her parents across the street. Most of the time she was at the fire house as a volunteer, actively helping rescue people from rising waters of the creek. Jonathan Creek, my former destination for walking, dumped up to a foot of mud in the firehouse itself. I live on the lower slope of a mountain and would never be in danger from that creek. Before a drop of rain fell, our neighbors were in a texting group as we geared up for the storm. As it turned out, I was the only one who needed help.

David took Beatrix for a final walk before bedtime. He didn’t know why she pulled so hard to get to bushes bordering the pasture to the side of the house. He soon found out. Skunk!! The skunk sprayed, mostly hitting David’s jacket. He rinsed and sprayed his clothes and left them on the porch to be thoroughly blown by the wind.

The storm was in full force when David got up at 4:45 a.m. to go to work. I was thankful he thought to let me know he got to Lowe’s safely. That’s about the time the county said no one should be on the road to have everything clear for emergency vehicles. At a reasonable hour, neighbor Shawn texted to see how I was getting along.

I replied, “I’ve made coffee. Things should look better in a few minutes. I’m very unprepared for this with a spooked dog, no dog food, no treats, and a house that reeks of skunk!!”

I told her I didn’t think the dog had been sprayed by the skunk. I was dealing with everything and thought it would be amusing by afternoon. She replied that Bob would come over to fetch Beatrix after the wind died down, which he did. I had petted her the night before, but she never let me near her after David went to work.

Shawn wrote that the windows on the north side of her house were leaking. (Mine didn’t.) She added that maybe now my house would smell better. Hers smelled like skunk. I apologized, because I couldn’t smell it on the dog. She wrote, “I’ve mixed up a solution for Bea – baking soda, hydrogen peroxide, and Dawn.”

Below is a video taken on the north side of my house through the glass of the door.

When David picked up the dog after work, Shawn and later Bob came over to visit for a while. Everything smelled better on the windblown porch. Their dog and Beatrix kept each other busy playing and nipping at each other. It seemed a fitting end to the hurricane.

We were blessed to have no damage on the street. Winds and floodwaters wreaked havoc in towns and near all the streams in the area.