There is a giant very old Weeping Willow across the street. I love to watch it in a gentle breeze. Last night Sandy took off a major branch. The Public Works folks came right away and cleaned it up. They had a chipper with them and some chain saws. Took care of it in a matter of minutes.
Our temps are expected to go to the upper 50's. High gusts are expected. And there will be rain all day.
Last night on TV, they showed a woman on the Winthrop Parkway, which runs along the ocean front. She had her four y.o. standing on the sea wall with high waves coming up-over the wall. She was holding onto the child's dress on the bottom. Anytime there is a storm, waves come up over that wall carrying large rocks and other sea debris. If ever there was a case of 'child endangerment', that was it.
I received a lot of calls wanting to know how I was doing. I kept telling them that where I live we just don't get the brunt of any storm even though I am only a block from the ocean. For some reason they just don't believe me.
If you look at a map of Massachusetts, you will see Cape Cod sticking out into the ocean. Then the coastline takes a sharp curve in to Boston. The the coastline curves out again. Boston is located in a cove like situation. We are protected by Scituate and other towns on the South of us, and by Nahant, Lynn and Winthrop on the North of us. The worst we get is broken branches. Logan Airport sticks way out into the ocean. They get hit hard every time. Here, in Eastie, we don't even have a seawall. I had two windows open all night and yesterday. Unless a storm comes in from the ocean directly into Boston Harbor, we just get the wind. The towns surrounding us get hit hard every time.
I live in an old school building made of brick. What was the basement is now the first floor. There are little burns (hills) surrounding the first floor. When it rains, the water runs off those burns and right into the apartments. Enough water that they have to replace the whole floors in each apartment. Stupid designs. Two of those apartments are for handicap.