<p>^^Great tip, NYMomof2! Or perhaps I’ll fill some 2 liter bottles 3/4 full and put them in the freezer.</p>
<p>I can’t take credit for the idea, JustAMom, only for recognizing that it is a great idea!</p>
<p>soccergurl, I hope your agency is closed tomorrow, too. I just watched a press conference of NY officials, and all public transportation in and into Manhattan is going to shut down this evening, probably until Wednesday. This includes the NY subway and bus systems, Metro-North and LIRR trains. NJ was not represented but I imagine their trains into NY will be shut down, as well. Bridges and tunnels into NYC may close without notice depending on conditions.</p>
<p>thumper1–fill at least one tub, close the door to the bathroom, put a sign on both sides of the door that reminds everyone in the house to keep that door closed so the cat doesn’t get in there. You may need that water to flush toilets.</p>
<p>Blocks of water vs ice cubes are a much better idea, they melt more slowly! If you have more than one freezer, stock one freezer with the food, add the ziplocks as you can, fill the other freezer with just ziplocks of water so you aren’t going in and out of the freezer with the food (releasing the cold air if power goes out). If you don’t have 2 freezers, fill coolers with the frozen zip lock bags and wrap the cooler in some blankets for extra insulation.</p>
<p>D1 lives in an apartment in DC that is built into a hill (so some nice big windows in some parts of the apartment on the “walkout side”, but bedrooms with windows that are high up and at ground level). So sort of a basement apartment in a way… I am very concerned about flooding. And… she was responsible for figuring out her renter’s insurance, which I discussed with her when she moved in. I remember being annoyed that she was being very cavelier about it – something about the roommate had it covered, and I suggested that she call the insurance company and make sure her name is on the policy. I sure hope she did it. She is not answering her phone this morning. :(</p>
<p>When I turned on the TV this morning, the first 5 channels I flicked through were all on storm stories. It seems like 20 out of every 30 minutes of news coverage is storm-related. </p>
<p>The only election coverage today was how the storm was forcing changes in election activities. It’s amazing how it has relegated election coverage to an afterthought, at least in my area. I don’t really mind, except I am already getting tired of news stories with some 4th-level reporter at the beach watching the waves.</p>
<p>I might go out and rake up some leaves just so after the storm I’ll have less soggy ones to deal with. I’m really hoping the wind will strip the remaining leave from my trees, and blow them into my neighbor’s yard. 
</p>
<p>intparent–while it’s great she has the insurance, no homeowner’s/renter’s/condo policy covers flooding. Now, if the winds from the hurricane blow out a window and water gets in that way, she is covered under most policies, if her apartment floods from standing water, not covered. Also, she can’t just be on her roommate’s policy unless they are related or own the apartment together. She would need to have her own policy. It’s too late to do that now. I would suggest she get her things as high up as possible (top shelves of closets, etc.).</p>
<p>Another thought on the food issue is to check and see if you have food loss coverage in your insurance policy. We were cut a check for 500 dollars after Irene.<br>
NYmom, I saw the ziploc tip, as well and am going to that. Another thought I had was to take the frozen bags and put some into the refrigerator if the power goes out to slow down the spoiling.
Today, I’m making a pot of lentil soup. I figure I can heat it on my gas fireplace if we lose power.</p>
<p>Love the “Futility truck”! I’ll pass that on to my H who is a Futility worker.</p>
<p>My cousin, who owns a heating & fuel co just posted this on FB so I thought I’d pass it along. </p>
<p>"If your heating and hot water systems should go under water try to shut them off before that happens because if that should happen with the electricity still on the electirc components on those units will fry, AND REMEMBER DO NOT GO INTO A FLOODED BASEMENT WITH THE ELECTRICITY ON</p>
<p>if the power does go out , without a generator, the heat and hot water will not work</p>
<p>once again if the basement in your home, where your heating and hot water systems are, usually fills with water then shut them off prior to the flooding and they will be salvagable once the power comes back on."</p>
<p>SteveMA, I did try to tell her that she needs to verify with the insurance company and get her name on the policy OR get her own policy. I am just not sure if she followed through or not. Honestly, if she did not, she may learn a very expensive lesson. But it is her expense. I am more worried about her nice furniture (we used her moving stipend from her employer to ship her bedroom furniture to her). That can’t be put on a high shelf. But if she ends up having to replace it with something cheap from Ikea, that is her loss now. As long as she is okay, of course.</p>
<p>I just sent her a message about pop tarts. :)</p>
<p>Earthquake here this morning while I am instructing my son to stay inside during the hurricane. This is a crazy weekend.</p>
<p>NYC shutting subways & mass transit starting at 7pm tonight. and my office still has NOT sent out the email they are closed tomorrow! Kids all expecting a few days out. Not cool, as we only have 3 snow days in the calendar and they only have 2 days of school the following week.</p>
<p>My D’s BS has announced that classes are cancelled for tomorrow and Tuesday. Now just waiting for the public school to decide. Don’t want S to get to school and then get stuck.</p>
<p>We went grocery shopping this morning and they had a bunch of big boxes near the checkout aisles: toilet paper, toaster pastries (kind of like pop-tarts), and other stuff which I didn’t pay attention to. The bottled water aisle had four empty shelves. There were several bottles on the top shelf way in the back. It was fairly busy but not packed.</p>
<p>Our municipal water has backup generators with about 7 days of fuel on-site. We have never lost water, natural gas or phone service. I assume that they could get fuel to the water pumps if we should lose power for more than 7 days even though that has never happened as long as we’ve been here.</p>
<p>I think that we’re expecting the wind to pick up speed to 20-30 MPH this evening and at worst, 50-60 MPH tomorrow during the day. Same thing with Boston. Our son is heading back to Boston this afternoon. I don’t know whether or not he’s working tomorrow in the office or not but he has to be available to help out if there’s any kind of disaster. It doesn’t look like this storm is that bad though - in the sense that it could cause a sudden disaster. I don’t think that Boston has the flooding risk that NYC has - the bigger problem will be the wind.</p>
<p>I’m not sure whether I’ll go into the office tomorrow. It would probably be better to work from home. The office issued a statement on the weather on Friday and we’ll probably see something with more information tomorrow morning as they will have more information.</p>
<p>I feel a bit overprepared for this storm right now.</p>
<p>Amtrak is starting to cancel some trains. Not the Downeaster, though. I’m hoping that because it is self-contained and goes to further than North Station in Boston they won’t close it Monday.</p>
<p>If they do, one of us will be driving S to Boston at 5 am Monday morning.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, the French Consulate in Boston completely ignored my question on Friday as to whether they had plans to inform people with appointments if they closed their office, OR if they would immediately reschedule so that he could make his return flight in 15 days. Instead, they responded with an email stating that the French police were the ones who controlled whether or not he would get a visa–the first I’ve heard of this–and they could do nothing about it. SO WHY IF THE POLICE IN FRANCE CONTROL THE VISA DID WE HAVE TO FLY HIM BACK TO THE US TO BE INTERVIEWED AT THEIR GODDAMNED CONSULATE??? Not a single word of sympathy, nothing about TRYING to help us, nothing at all. Nada. This is the way it has been with them since day one. They really are the absolute worst type of bureaucrat. They give the strong impression that they actively LOOK for ways to be difficult and unaccommodating. I’ve never encountered an office with less concern for the public and less concept of customer service.</p>
<p>A facebook friend commented on one “silver lining” to all the storm coverage, and possible power outages, at least we don’t have to hear “…and I approved this message.” for a while… :D</p>
<p>We’re ready for the storm. We live way out on Eastern LI. The local stores are out of flashlights and candles. Well, I did find a couple of candles in TJMaxx this morning. If we end up lighting them, our house is going to smell like a whore house–LOL. </p>
<p>Our emergency list consisted of:</p>
<p>–flashlights, candles
–water, dog food
–bread, peanut butter, crackers, cheerios, milk, canned soup, hot dogs
–6 pack of beer</p>
<p>The last minute prep will consist of putting the deck chairs in the basement and filling the tubs with water so we can use it to flush the toilets. </p>
<p>Son and I will head down to the ocean (7 min. drive from our house) to take some pre-storm pictures. The bay (5 minute drive in the other direction) is all ready looking stormy. </p>
<p>Good luck everyone. Don’t panic. Take the proper precautions and you’ll be OK. Remember, things can be replaced so focus on personal safety as well as the safety of your pets.</p>
<p>S1, a grad student at MIT, is down in Providence for a conference the next couple days. Genius that he is, he road his bike down on Friday. Shaking my head.</p>
<p>We face an all glass building. I hope it’s going stay intact. All scaffoldings are down around us, and I see external AC units are put away. </p>
<p>D1 is coming to stay with us until the storm is out. The best part is our office is officially closed.</p>
<p>Just got the word that I don’t have school tomorrow. We are all set here with our emergency provisions. DH is out filling the gas can in case we need to head over to the neighbors who have a generator. </p>
<p>Next up…roasting the chicken!</p>