As I write this we are on the tail end of nor’easter - our area is the only area still getting snow and rain, but then again we have had a lot less snow than most other areas. For those of you who do not know what a nor’easter is, think of it as nontropical hurricane. There is wind. The storm is rotating so that the winds come from the north east (hence, its name). There can be heavy rain or heavy snow - or a mix. This is our second nor’easter this week and there is a possibility of a third one on this coming Monday (which would make 3 in 10 days). The first one was just rain, but had wind gusts up to 70 mph in some places. This one had wind that was not as bad, but had the snow and there is a problem as the ground is so saturated in some areas that the wind can easily take over trees whose roots were flooded by the first one. Tens of thousands of people who lost their electricity in the first storm, still do not have their same back from then - plus the those now without electricity. They hope to have those who are still waiting from the first storm back on electricity by Friday - a week since they lost their electricity.
Husband got through last week’s storm relatively well. In case you don’t remember he has become “weatherphobic”. He is terrified of our losing our electricity - and therefore heat - and of digging out from snow - due to several years of repeated huge snow storms (20 inches, two days later 20 inches, repeat) and 3 extended blackouts after hurricanes within 2 years of each other - and in one case the electricity came back on finally and the next day we had one of these nor’easters and lost it again.
Our biggest problem with last week’s storm was that late that night he noticed a strange light on our 3 in 1 in the office that the fax has no phone line. So I telephoned the phone company and made an appointment with their computer to have our phone line fixed. I was lacking information from the computer call and called back the next day (all this calling being done on my mobile phone of course) to get additional information - some of which matched and some of which did not match what the computer told me - no one has to be home/someone over 18 must be home, repair will be done by 8 pm (what start time is one of the reasons I called)/the repair will be done between 8 am and 5pm and so on. I had specifically answered NO to being texted so of course the phone company kept texting me - glad I don’t have the plan that charged me 25c a text as there have been a lot of them. I called my mom and told her. I emailed my sisters and the president of my embroidery chapter and told them - all told to call on my mobile. The appointment was for - Wednesday, today. My embroidery chapter was to meet for the month - Wednesday, today.
We do a variety of things to prepare ahead of a big storm. If it was summer we would have filled our RV’s water tanks, but this time of year we can not do so as pipes and valves might freeze. It was to be warm enough both times so we did not have to worry about the pipes in our basement freezing though - or we would have plugged in an electric heater to keep them warm.
In the old days when husband went out to work and I did the preparation (and he was not terrified as mentioned above) I would fill the gas tank in my car. I actually did this whenever something happened or was going to happen. After hearing of the 9-11 attacks, I filled my car tank. Gas prices announced to go up, I filled my car tank. Storm coming, I filled my car tank. Husband used to laugh at me until the gas (petrol) stations either did not have gas or could not pump as they had no electricity after Hurricane Sandy - now he makes sure all 3 vehicles have enough gas in them when a storm is coming.
In the summer I tend to keep refrigerated food at close to minimal amounts so that if we lose electricity we do not lose much - we had to dump out what was in our fridge and freezer 3 times in just over a year due to hurricanes. In the winter I tend to keep more in the house as I am concerned about snow coming and not being able to go out for food - and if it is cold enough we can put the refrigerated food in plastic boxes outside in the cold. But, whatever we have, he goes shopping. This time I got him to go 2 days before the storm, instead of the day before when all the rest of the panickers are shopping -lines are long and food short. We went in and bought cans of soup - we can always use them - and a bit of “snack” as well as milk (we needed it anyway) and hot cereal (ditto). No lines. When we walked out he looked a bit relieved - we could probably live a month on what was in the house anyway, but if it helps him feel better...
When something like this is going to happen we plug in everything to charge it. The lantern from our RV is brought into the house and its batteries charged (it also takes regular batteries). Our laptops are left plugged in to charge. Our mobile phones (including my old one that I use as a PDA) are left plugged in to charge. This time it was even more important to have the mobile phones charging as the house phone is down.
So, we finished making ready - much of it to reassure him.
Now, remember, the storm was coming today - today is, believe or not, the same Wednesday that the my embroidery chapter meets and the phone company was coming to fix our telephone!
Yesterday afternoon I telephoned the chapter president (I am also an officer) to ask about canceling the meeting - as schools were already canceling for today. She was surprised to hear how a big storm was coming (as she was last month) and had planned to wait until evening to decide about the meeting. She agreed we should cancel it and I sent out an email to the members. I thought we should call them also (8 calls for each of us would taken care of it) but she said no - they would have the email and/or would call her or me - I reminded her that they could not call me and I hoped they would call her if they had a question.
I have mentioned that I do my laundry on Wednesday and Thursday nights. I washed and dried all waiting laundry last night - Tuesday. If we lose electricity we would at least have clean clothes and towels for 2 weeks. It has not been folded, but, hey, one can fold without electricity.
This morning I woke early and dressed and went back to bed - as we were not sure when - or if (since there was to be the storm) the phone repairman would come or if he would be ringing our doorbell. I am not a morning person and this is how I deal with anyone who is coming early or makes an “be there sometime during the day” appointment. Later in the morning while still in bed I got still another text from the phone company asking if the problem was resolved (I got about 3 of these since the request for repair). Husband picked up the house phone to see and there was a dial tone - a buzz on the line, but that could be do to the storm. A short while later I got a phone call - hung up after 2 rings - also from the phone company and I called back and spoke with a nice fellow who called the house and made sure our phone was working. One problem down - I hope.
When we got up for the day husband started to panic about what we would eat this evening if we lost the electricity. I opened the refrigerator and took out the bread, peanut butter, “American cheese”, and jelly and put the piece of mozzarella cheese and package of cream cheese that we have on the top shelf next to where the refrigerator door opens so they could be grabbed quickly if there was no electricity. I showed this all to him and reassured him. I also reminded him that we have sterno and I could cook soup in the porch. He then remembered we could cook in the RV if we needed to and felt better. The food is still sitting next to the fridge and I will put it away before we go to bed tonight and will unplug everything sitting and charging.
THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -
Make sure you are prepared for emergencies.
If you won’t eat canned meat - don’t buy it. Think ahead of what you might need.
I made sure Saturday night when I refilled our pill boxes for the week that we had enough medications.
If you have a baby make sure you have whatever you need for the baby - the same for a person who needs care in your household -even sanitary items if it might be “that time of the month”.
I paid all bills due out before the middle of next week and transferred enough money to pay them and have some cash in the checking account and made sure we had some cash at home (not much - what we have for the week plus and extra hundred dollars) just in case.
I had finished a business tax return for a client which has to go out by next Thursday. I go in to do her books, write the tax checks and help her sign the forms and put them in addressed envelopes to be mailed out right away when I am there. I had not copied and assembled the returns. It dawned on me that if there is another storm on Monday - and who knows what is coming after that - I might not get to her in time to send out the returns. So, Monday night I copied and assembled the returns and wrote instructions - including that I plan to be there to send them out and would call her if I was not able to be there and to help her deal with them. They went out in yesterday’s mail to her. I will call tomorrow to check with her about it.
Think about what you and your family needs if you can’t go out or have no electricity for a few days ahead of time so you know what to do and you don’t panic if something is coming.
No comments:
Post a Comment