Hurricane Check In

[Bonnie and Kona]

Okay, East Coasters.... when you can please check in with us. I'm up in the middle of the night on the west coast, watching the news and wondering how all of you are doing! 

[Diana Erhart]

Yeah, I'm not sure how that technology works either.  I guess there is a good reason that I am not an engineer!  Thanks for writing that e-mail.  I know it will be greatly appreciated.

[Bonnie and Kona]

Hearing these stories and watching the news... such sorrow. Praying your MIL gets power today!

[Bonnie and Kona]

I'm so sorry that your step mother is returning to such chaos. Praying her home has been spared. It seems too much loss to face... your dad, the trip alone and now this.

[F, Calla & Luca]

Ditto.

[Bonnie and Kona]

F, praying you are safely re-established very soon. xo

[Camilla and Darwin]

Thinking of all of you, glad you are all okay and hoping you can all get power and your routines back as quickly as possible! If any of you get sick of the weather, come stay with me, it's 60 and sunny and I'd love to see you all. :-)

[Cheryl and Finnegan]

F, does your generator run on gas and do you have enough? I'm seeing these horrid gas lines on tv and it worried me.

[F, Calla & Luca]

My generator runs on natural gas : ) That is a wonderful thing. I worried how I would get generator fuel in a blizzard and I decided to go this route. I do need too check it, planning for tomorrow, to see that the oil is OK. I did buy oil of the right kind after the last storm when I found out running low on oil could be a problem, luckily I didn't during our 5 day outage then. I never was a Boy Scout but I was a Brownie. I take the Boy Scout motto of be prepared seriously and so far so good. Of course soon tuna fish will be my mainstay. I made a big pot of soup and bought lots of Chinese Food before the storm but that's running low. I have enough food in my house, even though I might not particularly want any of it to last a loooong time. Many stores closed, schools closed etc. And we got off easier than the southern part of the state. A utility worker out inspecting the downed line on the main road told me maybe the power will be restored Sunday, possibly sooner, and of course implicitly maybe longer. My house is one of several right here with generators. Other neighbors have no heat, no water, no TV, internet, you name it. Neighbors are coming for water, electricity to charge things and my friend/ neighbor just took a shower. It makes me feel good that I can help out.

[Lisa, Daisy & Dexter]

I know I'd want you for my neighbor for more reasons than the aforementioned...you have doodles, that alone would be enough. 

Thank Goodness you are prepared. 

[F, Calla & Luca]

Aw, thanks Lisa.

[Carol and Banjo]

Wonderful that you're able to help your neighbors.   Unfortunately it often takes extreme hardship for people to finally make the move to prepare for themselves.   Human nature to think it's never going to happen to me.

It's great that you have natural gas to rely on.   We're gas powered and DH is always after me to be sure to keep my car's gas tank full.   Between 3 vehicles, a boat and several motorcycles, several filled gas cans, we've got a good supply of gas.   We've also stocked up on water and food and would be good for several months.   This is all DH's planning.    After seeing what so many have suffered, I'm grateful for his preparations.     Fortunately, we escaped unscathed with this storm.

[Diana Erhart]

After giving all of this some thought, I am trying to get my parents to get a generator.  They have a well so no electricity means no water and therefore, no flushing toilets.  But they do not have natural gas at their house and I don't want them to have to go get gasoline because most of the time their electricity would be out because of a snowstorm.  Anyway, F....is your generator one that is permanently connected in your house or is it a portable one?  Does anyone else have any advice on a generator that would use propane?  Where do you put it/how do you install it when you need it?  Is it something that my 75 year old parents could handle on their own?  

F, it is very nice of you to help out the neighbors.  It is times like these that make you feel good about the human race.