post-Irene miscellany
Irene came through the Mid-Atlantic area on Saturday night with lots of wind and quite a bit of rain. The worst of it happened during the night, while we were in bed, so we didn't really get to see much of it.
Amazingly enough, our power stayed on all night, and then on Sunday morning morning, as Irene left, the power conked out. Nuts. I almost thought we were going to make it!
We didn't have church on Sunday because our building had no power. Sunday never feels like Sunday when we don't have church, and I've had a hard time keeping track of what day it is since then.
What do you eat for dinner when the power is out?
Grilled pizza, of course.
By the way, I discovered how to make proper pepperoni pizza on the grill. Grills obviously provide no heat blast from the top, so pepperoni never gets browned or cooked on grilled pizza. So, we usually stick with other toppings. This time, though, I didn't have much in the way of other toppings so I put some pepperoni slices directly on the grill until they were sizzling and then put them on top of the pizza.
Totally recommend it.
We also grilled hamburgers, and we ate cold breakfast and lunch meals (cereal, granola, yogurt, sandwiches). We ate pretty well without power, I'd say.
What else did we do while we had no power? We walked around the neighborhood to survey the damage (lots and lots and lots of small leafy branches but not a lot in the way of trees or large branches).
We roasted marshmallows over our fire pit, Lisey and I worked on organizing all of our craft supplies, we talked to neighbors, we watched some cartoons on the laptop, I did some schoolbook organizing, and I also organized the closet under the steps (I now have a big pile of stuff to sell/give away/freecycle).
We also did some yard cleanup, although we've got a lot more to do.
All in all, I feel like we made out pretty well.
We're safe.
Our house is safe.
Our cars are safe.
The weather after Irene was neither hot nor cold (so we didn't miss having A/C or heat).
The days are still fairly long, so we didn't have to deal with candles/flashlights much.
Our water still runs when we have no power. Huge blessing!
Our hot water heater provided us with two days of not-exactly-cold showers even without power.
Our neighbor's generator kept my freezer cold.
Irene happened on a weekend, so Mr. FG didn't have to go to work when the weather was bad.
And we have power back on already, which I feel is pretty darn fabulous.
(Some people in my area were angry at the power company yesterday morning because they didn't have everything fixed 24 hours after Irene vacated the area. Real reasonable, huh? Especially considering that many people on the East Coast would love to only be dealing with the loss of power.)
We'll be back to regular programming around here tomorrow. 🙂
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Today's 365 post: Crafty Organizing
Joshua's 365 post: Tiger Lily
I live in Massachusetts. We lost our power for only 8 hours. Not bad! We do lose our water when we lose power but we had plenty of water in jugs. I routinely fill up jugs before a bad storm.
At least it was not cold. During a bad storm in the winter, when we lose power it is much worse. It gets very cold with no heat and just a fireplace to keep the pipes from freezing.
I can't speak for all the power companies in MA but from what I know, the utility companies I work for all were prepared and had everyone on call and had plans well in advance. I'd like to see more buried power lines but I think all things considered we did just fine.
I live in MA too and we lost power for 60 hours (maybe 50, my math is bad right now!) We have a 4 week old baby so I came to my parents who had power. My husband stayed home. I brought all our meats to my parnets, we had hamburgers and chicken and egg plant parm and pork chops...my mom used the rest of the ground beef to make meatballs that we will have tonight for dinner. All we lost in the fridge was some cheese, butter, and I'm sure some other odds and ends.
It was sickening (and still is) to me how everyone reacted to the electric companies response. WE HAD A STORM! I would imagine at this point, 3 days afterwards, it's starting to get stressful. But this is why they tell you to prepare. My faith in society has plumeted!!
We didn't lose our house, or have any damage. No loss of life. Just some food spoiled. I'll take it and be grateful.
Glad everyone in your family is safe and that there was no significant damage to your home.
The first photo made me smile. Zoe looks so tiny running in her little green raincoat. 🙂
We've been without power since 8pm Saturday. Others in our neighborhood got theirs back last night but we are still without. I'm grateful for our small generator running our fridge, but frustrated at the "hit or miss" restoration of power. I'm going to a friend's house for a shower today (been saving hot water for my husband since he has to go to work). Please pray for my power to come back on & that we have kind attitudes toward one another while we wait. TY!
People were really unreasonable after Cyclone Yasi here in Australia too. My city, Townsville, had the effects of about a Category 3 storm come through (the cyclone directly hit about 200km north of us) and luckily for everyone the worst we had was power outages and trees/branches down - there was very little structural damage and in our direct area nobody lost their life (though someone in a small town just north died after not using their generator in an area with proper ventilation). We did however lose power for up to a week though the average time was 3/4 days.They were predicting big storm surges which thankfully didn't come, but because of that (I live in a ground floor apartment in a beachside low lying suburb) we had evacuated to my parent's place a few suburbs over where there was a generator and less risk. People were shocking - complaining and abusing the power company etc. We were using the freezer to make ice for our friends who didn't have generators, letting people come and charge their phones etc off our power, swim in the pool to cool off etc. I know not having power is an inconvenience but that was a category 5 storm at it's centre and more than 6mths on there are still people living in homes with plastic sheets for a roof etc. I think disasters bring out the best and worst in people. Glad you all made it through ok and can see the positives!
Whooosh! So glad that everything weathered (pardon the pun) well.
Woot!
I live in Richmond, VA and the downtown area where I live was hit pretty bad. Lots of down trees, live wires, you name it. I lost power around noon on Saturday (before the storm had even come through although the winds were pretty bad already) and didn't get it back until yesterday afternoon. I was also surprised at the number of people complaining about the power outage when Dominion (our electric service provider) stated that 75% of their customer base was without power after the storm. Obviously its a (modern) inconvenience but really, get out and walk around! Talk to your neighbors! Grill out the meats before you can't save them!
Thanks for the update...glad Irene has left town!
Glad to hear you and your family are safe! 🙂
At the end of my street a large maple tree went down and snapped two telephone poles. 100% of my town and the two surrounding towns are out of power. However, work has electricity and a shower!
We're being told at least 5-7 days before the power comes back on. School was supposed to start this week and has been delayed until next week. We're on a well so no H2O.
Good things are happening though - lots of fun conversations wth neighbors and at road intersections with the traffic lights out everyone is being very respectful and taking turns going. This morning a group of us cooked eggs, bacon, and toast on the gas grill using a cast iron skillet. It was totally yummy and fun to have a cook-out breakfast!
Miss running water the most. Am going to toss some of the food in the refrigerator tonight. Although eggs, cheese, jam, butter should be okay for a couple more days.
Makes me very grateful for all that we have and take for granted. Glad your family, house, and cars are all safe.
Unrelated question - when you make the non-baking energy balls, do you use the blue Aldi oats or the red ones?
I use the red ones.
So glad you are all safe and well - was praying for you guys.
Ya know, there is always two sides to every story/situation. Whichever side you choose to focus on says a lot about you as a person. One side is angry that it is taking so long for the power to come back on, schools are out so they have to figure out what to do with the kids, cooking/eating is inconvenient etc.
On the other hand, the weather in temperate, we are uninjured, my kids are happy and smiling because they aren't sick/injured and the lack of power actually has us out and about in our community, helping those that need cleanup help and generally being neighborly.
They say it will likely be Friday for me. Eh. O.K. Is it fun? no. But considering the alternative, I'm choosing not to focus on it. That would be wasted energy.
We thankfully have never lost power for more than 6-8 hours or so. We usually have sandwich meat or something cold to eat during that time, and we've been known to pool resources with the neighbors (stone soup kinda thing).
Last storm was 120 mile hour winds- so the tree that fell on the patio took out the grill, and even though we saved it, somehow the knob got turned and an entire tank of LP was released. The storm only lasted about 30 minutes but did a lot of damage during that time in a 20 mile swatch. Nothing as widespread as a hurricane or as devastating as a higher category tornado- although they did say winds were equivilent to a F2 tornado!)
I was able to run to a nearby town that had power to get sandwich stuff, gatorade, and snacks for everyone that was working to get our neighborhood cleaned up/roofs patched, etc. It was about the only thing I could do to help.
I have a wood fireplace so even in cold winters, we should be fine. I can cook over a fire like a pro! Never tried it inside, but can't be that bad, right?
I was down your way camping right before Irene hit and got caught in the Delaware exodus coming back on Friday. It took longer getting back to NJ, but it was nice not to have to pay the tolls since they were suspended. Here in Jersey, a lot of the areas around me were flooded, but we were lucky and didn't even lose power. I'm glad your family was also lucky. Who would have thought that Vermont would fare the worst? I feel bad for the people up there.
Glad to hear you fared so well!
We kept our power and ended up just being on the edge of the storm, got a few strong bands that came through but that was thankfully all! The worst of it came over night Saturday into Sunday. The garden seems to have really enjoyed the rain though, everything has taken off again!
It's good to hear from you again. I'm so glad you were all safe. You don't know what day it is w/o church on Sunday, I'm lost if I don't see Q&A to let me know its Monday, if you had been gone longer I'd not be able to tell Friday w/o pictures of wasted food. or Saturday w/o a menu post.
wow. 24 hours too long? My brother-in-law in suburban Boston lost power Sunday morning and is not expected to get it back until Saturday of this coming weekend.
I love your long list of things to be thankful for. I especially noted your comment about Mr. FG not having to go to work since it was a weekend. That is very positive thinking... you could have wished for his work to be cancelled or something.
Love your blog! It really keeps me going!!
Glad to hear all is well and nothing was lost in the drama. Lovely photos btw X
I just found your blog and I love it. I live in Richmond, VA and Irene hit us pretty hard. We were without power for 26 hours but there are still thousands of people that don't have power yet and they probably won't get it back until Friday. Now I see Katia is out in the Atlantic. I hope she doesn't decide to visit us.
That looks good. Glad all the cuties are ok and all is well. Smiles.
Yay! Power is good! We are still waiting ...but, I did see a bge truck today! We have a generator, but it only. powers. the lights and fridge
I am typing on my Droid...so please pardon. My typos...
Praise God that fatalities were minimal!
8)
I'm glad you're all safe. I, too, am a "glass half full" kind of person. I love your pictures. Your neighborhood looks lovely, and so close to water. Blessed is right.