Hi Beakers. Waving to All! 
All good here! I will be affected by Idalia from now through the night, and most of tomorrow, but I don't expect anything severe, as long as I don't get hit by a tornado. I'm going to have lots of rain, and I have a tropical storm warning since tropical storm conditions are expected here as it comes through and past me on its way further up the NC coastline, but the winds won't be a problem here. Expect about 6 inches of rain here tonight and in the morning (most of it tonight), higher amounts in some places. I won't have a flooding problem at my home. I have been under a tornado watch since this morning, till 10pm tonight. I'm sure it will get extended. It's those tropical system bands of higher winds and rain near the coast that produce those quick spin-up tropical tornadoes, and I will have those bands through the night tonight and much of tomorrow. Those kinds of tornadoes are sudden, small, and short-lived. The only problem is if one of them strikes you or your property, it can cause a lot of damage, and can kill you. One of them this afternoon, in SC, not too far from Charleston, just picked up a car on the highway and stood it up hard on its nose (headlights) and then picked it up in the air and flipped it over it's end and slammed it down on its roof on the highway, partly on top of another car on the highway. Parts of the car went flying. People should not dismiss those little quick spinup tropical tornadoes. They are what scare me the most with tropical systems. So, yes, as
oldguy said, Idalia is a rain event for my area - but
it's not "just" a rain event. It's a tropical storm, and there's a high risk of tornadoes. Some people will have flooding, and trees will come down in spots. As long as they don't land on people or property, no problem.
((Karen)), I hope your power won't be out too many days! I'm so glad you did not have any major issues, but I'm so sorry you got that fence damage. I wonder if any of the pines came down that could've been within reach of your house or car. I hope not, even though none landed on your property. It's a lot of work and $$ to get them removed after they fall, even if they don't land on anything but the ground! Piper was not being a PD when you let her out this morning!
LOL! Glad your neighbor helped corral her. LOL, Piper says, "I can't hear you, Mom!"
The Weather Channel had someone broadcasting live from your town on TV all afternoon, including a live interview on the street downtown with your mayor. They said 97% of your area is without power, and there are some blown transformers on some of the power poles, and damaged substation, so it might take longer than usual to get power back, but I hope yours comes back on as soon as possible. I know it's going to be very warm temps again there soon. Hang in there!
Clynn, yay for your hatchback latch repair getting covered by warranty!!
I can't see what your link was - I get an error that says, "HTTP ERROR 404 must authenticate" I s that link from some email app?? Just curious. I wonder what that video is.
Have a good evening, All! I will be unplugging during the stormy weather. Zippo and I have our "Idalia snacks" to get to!
