<p>From the safety of the mile-high city, I send best wishes to all of you on the eastern front. Thinking about you!</p>
<p>I got a text from a friend on the Jersey Shore - mandatory evacuation. The police came to his house to make sure he was evacuating. He was told that NJ State Police are standing down & National Guard is taking over.</p>
<p>^^^^^^Wow!</p>
<p>1moremom: S1 must be at the same conference your son is attending. He took the train down to Providence from Boston. Fortunately, his hotel is attached to the conference site so he doesn’t have to set foot outside during the worst of the storm.</p>
<p>I called S2 in DC who doesn’t seem too concerned about anything, didn’t really take any precautions (hope he at least has batteries for his flashlight), and doesn’t know if he’s got work tomorrow. Must be nice to be 22yo.</p>
<p>We’ve got ziploc bags of water in the freezer, while it still works (thanks for that suggestion). We’re roasting extra chicken tonight which we figure we can eat cold when we lose power. DH found D batteries at Walmart (a store we hardly ever frequent).</p>
<p>After losing power for 7 days last October, I’ve been hopeful that our electric utility would have their act together better this year, but then I heard that instead of the 2000 line crew they expected from the MIdwest, they’re getting only 1000. Power restoration could take awhile.</p>
<p>Gosh, even though the storm is still quite a distance away, the wind has all ready started to pick up here on the south shore of eastern Long Island.</p>
<p>It’s the calm before the storm here in NW CT. VERY calm outside right now. All schools in this area are closed tomorrow. My guess Tuesday too if it’s still windy. Shellfell, hopefully the utilities are well prepared. They did a TON of tree trimming work this year…more than double what they usually do…and that doesn’t include the “natural pruning” the October snowstorm did for them. I’m hoping we will be OK.</p>
<p>We got a new roof in September and this will be its test.</p>
<p>My chicken is going in the oven…now.</p>
<p>shellfell, I emailed his GF knowing that if I called him to voice concern I’d hear his eyes rolling over the phone. She said he is on the train headed back to Boston. Friends visiting from VA also headed back early today. He was supposed to fly to Spain tomorrow out of Dulles. He managed to get a flight to Chicago tonight and will travel on from there.</p>
<p>DH is out splitting wood in case we lose power. I’m baking bread so we won’t starve. It feels a bit like “Little House on the Prairie”.</p>
<p>During Irene, we lost power for a week & a half, but we didn’t lose water or our gas hot water heater. We were able to shower, and I’m hoping that we’ll be able to use our gas stove for cooking/heating water.</p>
<p>I did buy lots of Blue Ice from our local Target. I was actually surprised that there were as many as there were; I left some as well.</p>
<p>Our power co did a lot of trimming since Irene/Snowtober, too. I didn’t lose power in either of those storms, which was quite stunning since we can lose it during a garden variety t’storm, but I’ve a feeling my luck is going to run out. 
</p>
<p>My roast is in the oven, too.</p>
<p>Defrosting the most expensive piece of meat we have to cook tonight.</p>
<p>All the schools around here (suburban Phila) are closed Monday and Tuesday. I"ve got my ziplocs full of water in my freezer. Got my extra water and canned food. And I just found at my local CVS what might be the most rare thing of all: an 8 pack of D batteries! Woo-hoo! lol</p>
<p>Thumper1, after Goodnight Irene and Snowtober, it is hard to believe that there is anything left to fall down in western CT! But my mother says that trees and limbs are still falling down around where she lives. I must say that there are a lot of very tall, fairly sick-looking trees in the woods adjacent to the roads where we walk there. It actually makes us somewhat nervous to take a walk when there are high winds.</p>
<p>I think I’m going to check the freezer and cook some meat. Good idea. I’ve filled a bunch of gallon jugs with water and put them in to freeze…</p>
<p>If we lose power for any length of time DH will be outside grilling a mess of shrimp regardless of what the weather is doing. ;)</p>
<p>We’re all hunkered down and prepared here on the South Shore of Long Island, and not in the evacuation zone this time around. Have water bottles in the freezer, bought supplies-extra water, bread, canned tuna, about to cook a chicken, did my laundry and reminded both d’s in Brooklyn to do the same…charge up the cell phones and take some cash out of ATM, all cars have gas. We have gas stove not electric and should be able to cook unless prolonged power failure…let’s hope we all get through this safely. My statewide conference that I was to attend in Hartford tomorrow was officially cancelled, so glad I had made decision not to try to go early on.</p>
<p>Just got into Boston and it’s about 20 mph and rainy. It feels colder then the air temp because of the wind. We’re doing a bit of shopping and then back to NH.</p>
<p>my inlaws live in suburban Philly (west of) and while they are in no danger of flooding, they live entirely surrounded by trees and, as hoarders, have a yard with no fewer than 50-60 random objects (statues, metal wind doohickeys, fencing, bird houses on sticks, etc…) DH is on the phone now, explaining again how they need to stay away from the windows – the entire back of their home is one glass window wall. At first they wanted to go see family but those people live on the Delaware river, which floods in an ordinary storm. So now DH is trying to get them to take the generator back outside and just stay in the downstairs, away from the windows.</p>
<p>Everyone with pets, make sure that they have their collars on snuggly with good identification attached to the collars that will not come loose easily. Dogs especially may bolt out of fear, or you may become seperated from them during an evacuation. Also, if you do have to evacuate, dont forget your pet’s medical records, especially shot records.</p>
<p>Chicken us out if the oven, and the pork roast is going in at 5:15 for dinner at 6:00. Happydad is amazed. He didn’t know we had that much in the freezer.</p>
<p>Chicken is roasting in the oven. I keep hoping this won’t be as bad as last year. There are fewer leaves on the trees, fewer trees, and maybe better preparation by the utility company. DH has been grumpy all weekend, so I’m hoping we don’t have to spend too much time together.</p>
<p>My office is closed for the first time ever. That makes me nervous. Got some great tips from this thread…Water in ziploc bags and cooking some pasta since we can eat that cold. Stay safe everyone.</p>