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An official note from the Princess's Internet provider...


We most solemnly protest that the absence of the Princess's blog posts last week was NOT due to any negligence on our behalf, such as failing to notice and repair downed cables in her neighborhood, or failing to act for several days upon numerous calls and complaints pertaining thereto. Nw that her service has been restored, however, we proudly take credit therefor. 



I'm sure that with all the excitement we've had here in the East recently -- earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes, and countless unrecorded individual tragedies, such as bad haircuts -- the rest of you are wondering: How have our daily routines been affected, particularly our naps?


Happily, we have not only been able to maintain our personal napping routines, but have even had occasion to add more naps into our schedule. For instance, Hurricane Irene was scheduled to hit our area during the night, so the Hero and I reasoned that all the wind and rain might keep us awake, and we should therefore take the precaution of having a pre-hurricane nap the afternoon before. We had been counting on continued inclement weather after the storm passed as well, which would be conducive to additional napping, but the next day was bright and sunny. Not that THIS would have stopped us, of course, but since the entire community was on the streets engaging in post-hurricane discussions, it was difficult to nap undisturbed.


Of course there were various preparations to be concerned about. In the days leading up to Irene's visit, officials stressed hurricane preparedness, warning that residents might face a protracted period of time without power. At the time, we did not fully grasp that this meant "for several months," nor that it would refer specifically to US.  


But the Hero and I did dutifully embark on a checklist of what we currently possessed in the way of preparedness. We came up with:


1 bottle of water (28 oz)
a few gel "ice cubes" 
1 flashlight with corroded battery


So we promptly went to the store to remedy this situation. Now, it may be that our "promptly" is not quite the same as 99% of other people who live in our area's "promptly," because it turned out that most people had started THEIR hurricane preparations well in advance of us -- like last month. But procrastination has its advantages. At least we avoided any fights over items, since there were no items left to fight over. Plus, we got to be quite friendly with the other five people we kept seeing from store to store, all of us searching in vain for ice. Such was our bonding in this stressful situation that it was difficult to go our separate ways when we finally called a halt to our search, but we're confident that we'll meet up with them again during the next natural disaster.


Just as soon as we finish our naps.