The Rain is pounding…along with my heart

This is a frightening.  I am sitting here waiting to lose the power; the lights have already flickered.  The rain is pounding against the window to my right.  I am trying to ignore it, but that seems to be an impossibility. 

I can hear the weather report as my husband is listening in our bedroom across the hall.  They are speaking of tornado warnings and Trenton, NJ is shutting its water supply down.  We just filled the bathtub so we have water to wash with, but this is too weird.  The lights just flickered again.

I am fearful the power is going to go out momentarily, so I am saving this document after every sentence.  I can feel my anxiety rising, my heart pounding, this is for real.  We are going to lose power and it will be off for a looooooong time.  I am keeping an eye on the trees, watching them start to sway even though the winds aren’t close to what they will be shortly.  It’s going to be a long night.

It’s an hour later, we were warned that tornados were possible in our area and told to go in the basement where we huddled together for close to half an hour; my husband, my daughter, her boyfriend and my Mom.  Luckily, the electricity was still on,  but, as we played cards to pass the time , each of us trying to make light of the situation, I’m sure everyone was frightened.  I know I was.  Luckily, the warning time ended without a dreaded tornado making an appearance and we exhaustedly returned upstairs!

                                                                            ~

It is now Sunday and hopefully the worst of the storm is over even though the winds are blowing strongly.  At 3:15 AM this morning, we lost electricity.  The darkness that enveloped us all was unbelievable.  You truly could not see your hand in front of your face.  Fortunately, we had flashlights at the ready and an AM radio that I had purchased for $4 at the store where I work.  My poor little, old, dog, Popcorn, a cute Maltese, was terrified.  His bark in the darkness was heartbreaking.  I believe he was petrified and could not understand why he could not see.  Only when I turned the flashlight on, did his barking stop!

Without power, our sump pump was useless.  As the water filled, my husband used large sponges, great for washing the car, and he absorbed the water.  (Using 3 sponges at a time!)  He then poured the water into buckets, which I picked up and schlepped to the laundry tub to dump.  We did this for what seemed like hours, but it was, in reality, about an hour and a half.  Then, exhausted, without the strength for one more bucket, we decided to just sit and watch and see if the water rose.  We sat in glow of candles, with the inexpensive AM radio whispering storm updates, and watched the water gradually level off, without overflowing.  It seemed miraculous!  We dragged ourselves upstairs and collapsed into bed.

We woke a few hours later, still in the dark.  Disappointed that power had not returned, we went downstairs to check the basement.  With great relief, we found it was exactly as we had left it.  Cautiously optimistic, we went back upstairs to get dressed.  As the worst of the storm was supposidly over, and the rain was not heavy, we decided to take a ride, charge our cell phones, and get some coffee.  Easier said than done.

My Mom needed gas in her car so we drove it to fill her tank.  Our neighborhood was completely dark.  As we continued our trek, we saw that nothing was open, Dunkin Donuts, Starbucks, even Wawa, the local 24 hour convenience store that never closes, was closed!  We finally found one gas station open, but the lines were long and not moving.  We decided to keep moving.

All our regular morning stops were closed.  The roads were actually fairly dry with only a smattering of small branches strewn across.  We drove until we found the local supermarket open along with its gas station.  After filling my Mom’s car, we turned to the pressing, vital task of finding caffeine!! 

The McDonalds was open!  Cars were lined up on the shoulder of the street waiting to turn in and go through the drive-thru.  Puzzled as to why the long line when there was plenty of parking, we decided to park and I would run in and buy the coffee.  I ran through the heavy drizzle only to see a sign posted on the locked doors…Open, but Drive-Thru Only!  YIKES!!

Determined, we drove on.  Disappointment after disappointment, we finally decided to head back to the McDonald’s and just wait.  On the way, we once again went by our same supermarket and decided to head in and see what they had.  Since I shop there regularly, I knew they do not sell coffee normally, but it was worth the chance.  Wow, are they smart!  They had their employee coffee pots brewing pot after pot!  We bought 4 large cups, donuts and muffins and triumphantly drove home, cell phones charged and fully caffeinated!

The rest of the family was awake by this point and we proudly brought in the coffee!  Successful morning trip…. but still, no power in the house!  We sat around the living room coffee table (appropriately named) and enjoyed the brew and some great conversation. 

We decided to stay home and keep an eye on the basement, although the offer to visit my brother, who had power, was tempting and sweet.  We read by the light of the window.

About an hour and a half later, as I was reading and dozing, I heard a wonderful hum, the power had returned!  Jubilantly, I announced to all that we had power!!  Within seconds, we texted the news to all who were waiting to hear!  How appreciative and thankful we are!  Electricity is GREAT!!

The winds are still howling and I hope the power stays on and the trees remain in the upright position…I also hope this is where this story ends, with gratitude for the health and safety of all our family and friends!

Irene’s Knocking at the door…don’t let her in!!

Yesterday was wild at the store!   There was an unmistakable air of both anxiety and excitement. The feeling was palpable.  Macho men strolled in, acting as though they weren’t concerned, frightened, or worried.  They made fun of all the “media hype”, (meanwhile, there were there buying batteries and flashlights)! 

Most people just wanted to be prepared.  Aside from snack food, water, and “D” batteries, coloring books and weaving games were being bought as parents realized game systems were not an option.  It was fun watching the young kids looking forward to playing chess and checkers, cards, and board games.  Crafts were huge, with construction paper, scissors, crayons, and markers flying off the shelves. 

I was exhausted when I got home, but we still needed to buy ice, get gas in the car and I wanted fruit – (a girls gotta eat!).  So, out we went.  The gas stations were unbelievable.  The station we usually go to could no longer accept charge cards as their system went down due to the overload!  Everyone was scrounging for cash!  Luckily, most people were amicable, cooperative and just taking it all in stride.  Strangers were asking other strangers questions, people were talking to each other that otherwise would not.  I suppose that is a pleasant fact.

I spent most of my time this morning cooking.  Frozen chicken and ground turkey are now able to be eaten cold…. no sense keeping them in the freezer where they are of no use.  The electric company is warning of power outages lasting over 4 days, so nothing in the freezer will be worth saving anyway, might as well eat it up!!

I washed all the clothes and towels and ran the dishwasher.  What else can I do?   I suppose we are as prepared as we can be, considering the one thing we really need and really wanted to buy, but could not get our hands on, is a home generator.  All generators are sold out and have been for days, even in stores located over an hour away.  I know because I called every last one.

I hope the phones work through the storm, that’s a big concern.  I also hope the basement doesn’t flood since without power, our sump pump is worthless.   I hope all trees stay in their upright position – not horizontal on the cars or roof of the house!  But, those things are out of my control.  So, I am here, waiting for the doorbell to ring and Irene to come bearing her gifts of powerful winds of torrential rain.  Maybe she'll close her eye and go away????

Irene is Coming

Hurricane Irene is going to strike our area; this is not good news.  In the suburbs of Philadelphia, we are used to snowstorms, blizzards, Nor’easters, but not Hurricanes!  The warnings are up and we are in the “cone”, an area expected to get 5 – 10 inches of rain and 50 – 70 mile an hour winds.  The prediction itself is nerve wrecking!  Watching the New Jersey shore be evacuated is upsetting. Seeing the video of newsmen standing in the ocean in their suit pants, being pelted by waves is just foolish.

All week, my husband and I were looking forward to seeing our son and his lovely girlfriend at their apartment this weekend.  Even the four-hour drive was something I was looking forward to.  We haven’t seen them in two weeks and so much has changed for them! My son's classes have begun. He is so very busy every day, 12 hour school days followed by long hours of work at home! His girlfriend has started a new job and is working tirelessly, coming home late at night. Together, they are getting adjusted to their new life.  We were so excited to see them this weekend, hug them, enjoy being with them, but now that’s not looking like an option!

Hurricane Irene is expected to pound our area beginning tomorrow evening, escalating through the night and, with any luck, leaving by Sunday night.  The chance of losing power is probably not a chance but a certainty.  The reality is trees will be uprooted, but, where will they fall?  When we lose power our sump pump will stop working which means our basement will flood.  Our heater and so many other things, too large to move are down there. The damage that could be is just devastating! 

As for preparations, we went to the market last night and bought water and other non-perishable food.  We do have peanut butter - it was one of the items on the "must have" list!  It’s a frightening feeling to know something is coming that could be so destructive yet there is only so much you can do to prepare and protect everyone and everything, the rest is out of our hands. 

Today, I will go to the store where I work; I’m sure we will sell a lot of batteries, the flashlights are already long gone.  I just wish I could think of what else to do to prepare!

Finally, I am nervous about being out-of-touch.  If we lose the power we have been told we have 4 hours of battery back up for our phones, that’s all.  Without phones and without the Internet, I won’t be able to hear from my son.  That makes me extremely anxious.  I know we are the ones in the path of Irene, but I need to know he’s okay, too! I have a car charger and can use it for my cell phone, running the car in the garage for short amounts of time with the garage door open and rain pouring, hammering in; but what if cell service goes down, which is a possibility?!

I am thankful my daughter and her boyfriend will be here this weekend. I am especially glad since New York is even more of a direct target, and if they weren't going to be here, they'd be there.  My nephew lives there, in his new home, and I am sending good thoughts his way!

It’s my goal to chronicle the storm through this blog.  Even when the power is gone, I will write the old fashioned way, with pen and paper, and post it afterward....at least that’s the plan. 

Please take care out there!  Go buy your peanut butter, crunchy or creamy or both and be sure you have water! I’ll see you here later!!