<p>Ok, for the first day I was ok. I coped. I even read a book (ok - only about half of it). I reflected on life, etc. etc. We even lit a whole bunch of candles (and made sure to watch them carefully so we didn’t burn anything down.) But I have to say that I couldn’t take another night in the dark house. Right now, we have escaped to Starbucks (right in our town, they never lost the power.) </p>
<p>It really is kind of messy around here - lots of huge trees down, roads blocked, power lines down. Fortunately from what I hear, these are the problems, and for that I am grateful. We went to work today, and it was really difficult to find our way out of town to where we had to go due all the road closures. Ironically, at the office things were still going - I don’t think the power went out at all.</p>
<p>I guess it is not so bad in other places (given the thread topics that popped up when I opened the cafe threads) or no one else is complaining (or they can’t get on the internet).</p>
<p>If you are out there in cyberland, send me a shout out - I’ll be on line for a while more, and I will check in tomorrow (at work I guess.)</p>
<p>We have power, but no running water. It puts basic needs in perspective and consensus among neighbors is we would rather have power. (many neighbors don’t have power due to downed trees). </p>
<p>The rumor mill is such we aren’t getting it back for possibly a week, as our nearly 100 yo water mains may have cracked with the earthquake and the floods pushed them over the edge. </p>
<p>At least our trains to NYC are running tomorrow. Baby steps to return to normal.</p>
<p>Hi nj2011 mom. You’re right, life without water is probably worse. Thanks to some other posters here in the cafe, I had filled jugs and so forth for water, and I froze them (just in case). I can’t say that in my wanderings that I saw a lot of crews out working (but I did see some). </p>
<p>One of my coworkers said last week “first an earthquake, and now a hurricane…”</p>
<p>We just got power back about 15 minutes ago. Hooray! I hope it comes back for you soon.</p>
<p>The worst part was not having water–ick. Cold sponge baths were not enjoyable. Dumping buckets of water into the back of the toilet to get a flush wasn’t any fun either, but at least it worked. I don’t feel like doing it right now, but part of tomorrow’s to-do list is to dump out the spoiled food and clean out the fridge. </p>
<p>One of the best parts of getting the power back is that whoever is running that darned loud generator in the neighborhood can now turn it off. It was so friggin loud and he had it running 24 hours a day! If all generators are that loud, I would rather be without electricity than have one.</p>
<p>Without power here, too (central NJ). We had evacuated to PA and got nothing worse than some windy rain. Came home tonight. Need to get 2 kids off to college, and myself back to work. There is a tree down in the yard, but no damage. I’m feeling lucky tonight, it could have been so much worse.</p>
<p>Going on 36,hours now (northern CT) . No eta from the power company makes me think they haven’t even started looking at the issue yet. SOOO BORING, especially after dark. Not a fun way to begin our empty nest life (s left on Friday). I dream of waking up to a house with electricity… :)</p>
<p>MIL on NC’s Outer Banks has finally gotten her power back on (off since Sat).<br>
S2’s college, East Carolina University, canceled classes today and just announced there will be no classes on Tues.</p>
<p>No power here in Baltimore since Saturday night. ETA for power - Friday. I am at a friend’s house charging my phone. I work from home so it is doubly hard.</p>
<p>Still no power and no water in northern Jersey. DH left on a business trip this morning so I’m all alone in a dark house. Bored out of my mind! </p>
<p>My daughter returned home to DC after visiting friends in Connecticut. She was able to drive to DC this morning after having me check her route; the home in CT did not have power. Once home she found not power in her building and the power company is estimating next Monday evening before their power is restored :o</p>
<p>This is the first time my daughter has had to deal with her own home without power, and was very upset that she would have to toss all the food in her fridge and freezer. The weird thing is her building has a generator, but odd outlets are on-the washer and dryer, the oven and stove, and one outlet in the kitchen. I guess if this was the winter, one would love the stove; I would rather have the refrigerator that the washer/dryer!</p>
<p>Central Va: My brothers set my father up with a generator for his fridge and his OXYGEN. Otherwise he’d have to move in with one of them, I guess.</p>
<p>When the hurricane came through the midwest a few years ago and knocked out power for 1-3 days, there was an amazing amount of neighborhood visiting going on. We were so starved for entertainment, we’d go down and watch the crew sawing up a tree across the road, and we’d share bits of news with each other. It was pretty neat, actually.</p>
<p>When we lost power, we rented a DVD from a store that also was without power. With a flash light, they searched the shelf and recorded our transaction on a piece of paper.</p>