We Prepare and then We Wait {pre Hurricane Sandy}{20}
It’s late. I mean, I guess it’s not any later than it usually is when I’m writing a blog post but, you know, it’s well past midnight.
We (Mr. Social Media and I) spent the day today getting ready. I think we are just about as ready as we can be. I suppose - if you don’t live on the Eastern coast (or any where near it – or maybe you have just been out of touch) you might not know what we’re getting ready for. There’s a big storm coming.
A really big storm.
Hurricane Sandy (where do they get these names??) is on her way to my neck of the woods. School has been cancelled. Mr. Social Media shut down his company for tomorrow. I heard a bunch of cancellations on the radio this evening that included Monday and Tuesday too – and it’s only Sunday, now. They say this is going to be the “Storm of the Century”.
Yikes.
Do you know what a “hundred year flood” is? That is the sort of flood that is so bad , it only happens once in a hundred years. Well, last year, just over a year ago actually, we had TWO hundred year floods. In two weeks. Hurricanes Irene and Lee. My house is situated right on a river. The river comes right up and covers the road – regularly. In the 14 years that we’ve lived here I’ve seen the road flooded probably 8 or 9 times. That happens about one eighth of a mile from my house. This house, Bevier House, is built in EXACTLY the right spot though. We are so lucky and we send a big thank you out to old Judge Bevier (the man who built this place sometime around 1850) for being so intelligent in his placement. Our house doesn’t flood. We are up on a bit of a rise here – and the river bank in front of our house is steep enough to ensure that the water will not come up here. We get a bit of water in our basement – but nothing to speak of really. And it’s not even from flooding – it’s just that very heavy rain can’t get away from the house fast enough and some comes through the stone foundation. We were so incredibly fortunate during those terrible storms. We suffered almost no damage at all. We lost one very big tree limb from one very old catalpa tree – and that was it. Well we lost all of the food in the freezer and refrigerator, too. But honestly, so many others lost so much – we felt very fortunate indeed.
So, as we are facing this new Hurricane, I am feeling like we’ve done all that we can to prepare. We lost power for 8 days last year. The power lines cross the river in front of my house and a tree fell on the wires and took them down under the water. They stayed there until the water receded and crews were able to work safely. Eight days. It could certainly happen again. The power will almost certainly go out – we just don’ t know for how long. . .
What would you do if you knew that you’d be without power for a week or more? We have cleaned and filled our best oil lamp – the one that doesn’t smoke and stink when lit. We have gone grocery shopping. Several times. We have bottled water on hand for drinking. We have gathered all of our flashlights into one place. We have extra batteries. I spent ALL day today catching up on laundry – and I ALMOST finished. Everyone in the house has clean sheets on their bed and everyone had a shower tonight, too. Medications have been secured fromt the pharmacy. Both of our cars have full gas tanks and we have emergency cash on hand. I have thought of foods that can be cooked on the stove (which can be lit with a match) instead of in the oven (which cannot be lit with a match). All electronics are being charged as we speak (and there are quite a few!) The furniture from the deck has been put into the garage. The leaves have been blown out into the yard in hopes that Sandy will take them elsewhere when she goes. . . I think that before I go to bed tonight, I might clean the upstairs bathroom – it could be a while before I can do it again. In the morning I’d like to run the vacuum, and do the last load or so of laundry.
And then? We wait.
It does kind of feel like I’m getting ready for Christmas - or at least a snow day. . . but we usually don’t prepare for those. The kids will be home from school and I’m hoping to get one of those easy relaxing days with them. I’m hoping we will get to play this game
and this one too.
If the power stays on long enough – I’m hoping we can make pumpkin bread.
Maybe we can even do a CRAFT! TOGETHER!! On one of my trips to the grocery store today (yes, I was there more than once), I even picked up this:
I’ll tell you a secret. I actually enjoyed myself immensely when the power was out for 8 days last year. We don’t have running water without electricity but since we have our hand pump – we are able to haul water and flush to our heart’s content. It’s very Little House on the Prairie. And not having power excuses me from a lot of the “stuff” that I do. Laundry? No. Dishes? No. Vacuuming? No. Cooking? Mostly no. Making sure everyone bathes? No.
It’s only because we suffered so little (when so many suffered SO much) in the last hurricane that I am feeling this much confidence in our safety. It may be that I’m being foolhardy. But you saw my list – we are as ready as we can be. This storm is ridiculous in it’s size – I really can’t even fathom it. (600 miles wide?? what??!??)
I’m hoping that this old house can take it – it’s been taking it for over 160 years already. So for now? We wait.
I hope that you’re all safe and sound.
See you after the storm.
breida
UPDATE: The power is still on (so far). I got the vacuuming done and the laundry finished. I woke up to the kids playing Monopoly – it does feel like a snow day so far. . . Maybe I’ll go make some hot chocolate!
Oct 29, 2012 @ 13:03:05
Praying for you all!
And I love, love the pictures of your pump and the game with dice! I am in love with the color of those dice and they look so cute in the jars!!!
I don’t like being without electricity, but it does take away a lot of the things that “should be done!”
Oct 29, 2012 @ 14:05:24
Hi Deborah –
That game is called Tenzi – It’s simple and fun. So far – we are still electric. . . fingers crossed!
b.
Oct 29, 2012 @ 14:40:52
The game actually comes in a plastic tube – I split it up an put it into these old half pint milk bottles I bought a few weeks ago.
Oct 29, 2012 @ 15:30:30
Nice job, dear! I’ve done similarly, but only having to be concerned for one human and three furry “kids” certainly is simpler. So far, 3:30 pm Monday, only some gusty wind and no rain. So I’m heading into town to meet up with a friend from work to see the phenomenal doll’s house she built and furnished. Let’s hope we all continue to have power and that those in danger get to high ground.
Oct 30, 2012 @ 18:08:08
Did your power stay on? Ours did. Mom has no power and no phone. But at least she has heat when the power is out. . .
We were spared the worst – glad you were, too. NYC and Jersey – yikes!
Oct 30, 2012 @ 18:51:16
Power stayed on! Around 11 last night something fell outside big enough to send a tremor through the house. Gracie and I went exploring and found that a very big, dead, tree fell behind the big barn…. Straight down into that deep gully! Nothing to hurt down there… And I think one of the really old apple trees out front fell down, too… But no damage. Oh, so very fortunate!
It was a very pretty day here today.
Oct 30, 2012 @ 13:08:51
You sound pretty ready! I hope you’ll be all right!!
Oct 30, 2012 @ 17:53:13
We are fine! No power outage (very surprising!!) and no storm damage for us. We were very fortunate. There has been a LOT of devastation – my beloved Jersey Shore – it’s pretty bad. . .
Oct 31, 2012 @ 10:15:39
I have a friend in NY but she’s okay and I have a friend who has family in NJ and they are okay. Scary stuff! Glad to hear all is well with you though! =]
Oct 30, 2012 @ 13:44:54
Breida, I’m reading this after the storm has passed. I’m hoping you, your family, and your house made it through the storm with minimal damage.
Oct 30, 2012 @ 17:55:58
We are fine, Jane – Thank you so much for checking. We were spared the worst of it – very, very lucky. No damage at all at my house – the power never even went out. It was almost a non-event for us. Unfortunately – that is not the case for a LOT of others.
Oct 30, 2012 @ 14:42:04
Hoping everything went really well for you!
Oct 30, 2012 @ 17:57:39
We’re fine, Jill. We were very, very fortunate. I am very sad for my friends in NYC and my Jersey Shore – – oh – -it’s very bad there. . .
Oct 30, 2012 @ 14:55:19
How did you fare, friend? We were equally as prepared here at 7 Doe & only lost power after the 2nd transfomer exploded in our area. We too only lost power for a few short hours. I managed to get my hair done today. Talk about lucky and being grateful. Yah, that’s me today.
Oct 30, 2012 @ 18:00:02
Us too, Karen. The power actually stayed on the whole time here – amazing. The pictures I have seen of NYC and the Jersey Shore make me want to cry though. . .
Oct 30, 2012 @ 23:44:46
Listening to all of you sure makes me glad we live where we do. Do have tornadoes out here (west of Grand Junction, CO) once in awhile but not since we’ve been here (8 yrs). If the river should rise, (2 miles south of us) we’re up on a hill so not imenent danger.
We lived in MT and when it storms bad there (we were out on the flats on Canyon Ferry Lake) you don’t flush your toilet as the lightning will find your well pump and blow it out. I learned that real quick. When it was going to storm I’d fill bottles and whatever else I could find with water in case it lasted for awhile. I was alone out there on the plains so had to learn what to do. I was a girl from the big city in San Diego area. What did I know about pressure tanks, well pumps, things like that. And believe me when it stormed it was so frightening alone. I held onto the poor dog like it was my last day. The wind blew like it was going to blow the mobil home over.
We lived in western KY outside Bowling Green. Every time the wind blew the power went out, sometimes for hours, all night. In the summer it was miserably hot and humid without ceiling fans or a/c. I slept in the swing several times in the summer, too hot to be inside. Again I was alone out in the country off a busy highway. Kinda scarey but learned how to deal with it. Sure taught me what I was made of. I had several oil lamps which I’d light as soon as it started blowing. I kept them in a secure spot so the wind wouldn’t knock them over or put them out.
No hurricanes for me but enough of some of the other stuff that I had to learn how to take care of myself. We had a couple tornadoes in KY go thru also, close enough that I was very scared when pieces of barn roof next door were flying all over. I was afraid it would come thru the windows. Luckily I had secured things outside that might fly in the garage when I heard about the tornado being close. I was ready to go into the garage for safety myself. Keep safe and hope you don’t have a mess to clean up.
Oct 31, 2012 @ 01:43:49
Wow, JaneEllen – it sounds like you have been through a lot of scary weather situations. Way more than me! We did just fine in the storm yesterday – it really passed us over for the most part. At my house there was no damage and no power loss. Not everyone has been so lucky – i’m sure you’ve seen the pictures of the devastation in NYC and the Jersey Shore. . . it’s terrible. We are okay though.
Here Comes the Story of the Hurricane
Nov 01, 2012 @ 22:49:24
[...] saw my list. You saw, if you read my last post, how much we did to prepare for the worst while we were busy hoping for the best. For a lot of [...]
Dec 01, 2012 @ 20:37:44
Breida, Love your TENZI holders! The only they’re missing is a nice TENZI label. Let me know if you’d like me to send you a couple. I’d be more than happy to. Thanks, and have a dice day!
Dec 01, 2012 @ 21:59:25
HI Steve-
I think they look great in there, too! I’ll contact you through your email address.
breida