November 2, 2012 - Hurricane Sandy - Days 4 and 5

 

Day 4 – Thursday

This photo was taken across the street from a large Quick Chek convenience store/gas station in town. The store is behind the blue dump truck and actually even off the photo, a bit to the left.  If you enlarge the photo, you’ll see a long line of cars waiting for gas.  This was taken in the late afternoon on Thursday.  The same scene was being played out at every station in the area that was open.

That’s all I’m going to say about Thursday except that it was a depressing and somewhat scary day, reading about the gas shortages, seeing it firsthand, seeing folks driving foolishly and dangerously,  and wondering if we would be able to keep our generator and ourselves going and, if so, for how long.

Day 5 – Friday

After coffee this morning, I called around to see who had gas.  Our usual local places didn’t even answer the phone and the Quick Chek mentioned above was out.  I called the TA truck stop on I-78 where we get propane.  The guy said they did, but the line was starting to get long.  Dave set out and was successful in filling our empty gas cans and the company truck.  He said it was pretty much a mess with semi’s going in and out of the truck stops and cars waiting in line for gas.

Cell phone service is better, but not yet 100% reliable.

I contacted the company who supplies propane and other gases to the mill; if I let them know about 24 hours beforehand, they can come fill our tanks.

Our main concern is getting gas for the generator.  Now we have enough to get through Monday morning, if we are conservative with our usage.

We then ventured out to the grocery store and were able to get food provisions, mainly soups and other dry types of meals.  I was lucky to find milk, eggs, cheese and some ground meat.  We stocked up pretty well because . . .

There is the possibility – or probability – that we will see the effects of a Nor’easter next week.  Even with a bit of ice, we will most likely lose power.  (Not that we have power right now . . .)   Of course, we lose power here sometimes even when it’s a nice day out!  I wanted to get a preliminary stock of provisions today versus over the weekend or at the last minute when everyone else would be shopping and already limited supplies would be diminished.

Although our onboard tank shows 3/4 full, we stocked up on bottled water today, too.  We are being very frugal.  We both had very quick showers Wednesday night.

Yep, today’s Friday.  We could use a wash.  Thank goodness for Handi Wipes!  That may have been TMI, sorry.

After returning home, there were still things to be done.  Fill the gen, crank it up.  Drain our water hose and disconnect it from the rig in case of freezing.  Check on a couple of things in the mill for the office down in Hamilton.  Things like that.

We did see this today . . .

This is the first JCPL truck on the property!  What a beautiful sight!  Unfortunately, they were here just to cut off a broken live wire and then had to go down the road to Finesville; there was a hot wire on the ground that had to be taken care of immediately.  I was told we probably will have power tomorrow; I’m thinking realistically that means Sunday or Monday if we’re lucky.

These guys are working hard; one of the linemen said they are provided two hot meals a day but they had been skipping lunch and just having dinner around 8 PM and working until 11 PM.  You bet I expressed our gratitude!  Even if we do not have power yet, they are getting power back to the area in general faster than after the Nor’easter in October of last year and faster than after Hurricane Irene last year.

Last week I had made stew and put some in the freezer.  It survived Sandy, so it thawed yesterday and tonight we had our first “real” hot meal since Monday’s breakfast.

Totally yummy with a bit of bread

Now we’re just chilling out; we’re both pretty dang tired.  The community center up the hill is open with free showers, so we will both take advantage of that tomorrow.

Well, hey, we just noticed that lights are back at the park across the street and in surrounding homes.  Our site is always the very last to have power restored.

Maybe tomorrow . . .

Thanks so much for stopping by!

I am a Warrior.