Hurricane Sandy - the pre-Sandy part

 

Yesterday I was in a quilting class - it's the 4th quarter of the class and therefore starting another new quilt - and definitely a favorite! By now I know most of the people and we banter back and forth as we supposedly quilt - but in reality do a LITTLE quilting and gossip, trade funny and not so funny stories back and forth. It's also a time of show and tell and I showed off my 2 newest "flimsys" (quilts that are pieced or appliqued but don't have the batting or backing as of yet).

Have been getting in a bit of trouble recently - have joined up for a lecture series - missed the first one (one I wanted the MOST to see!) - and have joined with a writer's workshop for writers/poets (aren't poets writers also???) that meets weekly! Had to be interviewed before I was allowed to join - to see if I was "serious" enough! Hmmmm!

Back home, saw Nathan (son) who was zipping between here and his home in Sturbridge, MA - about 30 miles away. Talked to Wendy (in Drummond, New Brunswick, Canada) and counted my candles. 

 Friend Peggy called late last night - and again this AM and was quite worried about Sandy. As far as that goes - I'm not overjoyed about Sandy either - however - I DO have candles. And as of maybe a half hour ago, I have charcoal briquets. I have one of those round tower things to pile charcoal in, etc. - and LOTS of cast-iron fry pans - including one deep one I plan on using for holding the burning charcoal. Cast iron doesn't burn. and I can set a round grill on top and use my skillets and cooking pot (all cast iron) to cook with. IF we lose power here. Hopefully we won't because I haven't quite figured out heat alternative yet - because although the charcoal cooking would put out heat - it also puts out a LOT of carbon monoxide and smoke. So - cooking REALLY needs to be done outside - which I am NOT thrilled about - particularly if it gets cold - however the other alternative is to go visit McDonald's - they have a generator - and open 24/7 - LOL - was told - and don't believe it - just bring sleeping bag - and probably money! LOL Last emergency outage they provided free coffee to anyone who wanted/needed it. They were the ONLY place in town with that. One of the groceries was open - with VERY limited (canned) foods!

Re foods - having lived on a farm - I have this thing about going into winter where you have NO idea what to expect weather wise - and being prepared - probably for a 2 year long winter! LOL At present I have lots of veggies - most are dried, some are frozen and therefore on use first list. Some are canned and the most are dried. Not a lot of fruit - which is a treat anyway. Lots of powdered milk (non-instant and the only kind I ever use), powdered eggs, alternative protein sources (beans, fake chicken and beef), grains -

like oats, wheat, rice - both whole grain and what I've already ground into flour, cereal or whatever. So foods - am fine! And since I also figured on Lynn and Nathan and possibly Wendy and Vince as well as myself - definitely fine. Critters are relatively ok too.

When I was out briefly this AM (picked up my meds I had forgotten about!) I saw several folks putting up hurricane shutters on store windows - which was alarming! Esp since I realize the amount of effort and time those guys were using! I think that when I can I may see about some type of shutter for my windows as well!

(My greenhouse - which I HOPE will still be where it is right now!  I want to move it - but NOT this way!)

Re weather right now - at times a bit breezy - mostly overcase and HUMID!!!!!! Springfield, MA is 57 degrees - but I swear it FEELS like maybe 75 outside. Breeze feels nice - except that the sky is so overcast - and we know what the weather forecast is! Re predict what Sandy is doing/going to do - I swear MA residents are strange! They are an odd combination of major WUSS and "toughing it out" kind of folk. Hard to say. Many think that there won't be much of anything - at least as far inland as I am. Boston area is probably a different story. Same for mid state - where Nathan and Lynn are. However - the BIGGEST thing I can think of is NOT the rain - but flooding that may occur from way upstream - and definitely the wind. All of which will hit our trees - which are super full of leaves and standing on ground that in the past weeks has been saturated with rain. So power outages are a definite possibility. So are trees down/uprooted/causing damage against houses (hopefully not any of mine), electricity, etc. Re that - one of the advantages of living on the street I'm on is the proximity to the fire station - and being on the same power line as the fire station - and probably police station as well. Those will probably be among the first back up and running - although LAST storm we were told it would be several weeks before that happened (however Big Y grocery was back up and running - and as it turned out MY side of the street was almost immediately thereafter - the other side of the street - no! But I didn't know that - and after 2 days of no heat went to Nathan's house and slept on their couch!)

 

(Wind is picking up a bit - very gusty!  Still not as horrendous as what it could be and what I hope it WON'T be!)

(you can see that we are having a dab of rain - not a lot - and not that hard driving rain - but it's there!)

 

I will try to keep you all posted - as things go on here, as long as I have electric - so far just overcast and a bit breezy. They ARE forecasting gusty winds (we have breezes so far) from 25 - 85 mph. And I can see that. However that sTILL sounds like IL during some of the hurricanes that traveled up the old Miss! So we'll see.