5016 Is it the weather?

Saturday, October 3, 2015

Holding resentment is like drinking poison

and expecting the other person to die.

It doesn't work.

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Well, it's beginning to look like Joaquin isn't going to hit us.  But right now, and for the past few days and probably a few days more, we are experiencing a Nor'easter.  I gather that's what's pushing the hurricane out to sea, so I guess we can't complain much.  We're getting lots of rain and lots of wind.  I can't hear the wind in the house, but when I go out I can hear roaring.  There was a flock some kind of wide-winged soaring bird flying high this afternoon, and they were flying backward!  Facing east, but moving west.  Weird.

I noticed that sometimes the wind dropped, no movement in the trees, but the roaring went on.  I suspect some of the sound isn't wind in the trees at all.  I suspect it's surf.  Wind kicking the water around.  I'm not going to walk to the end of the street to find out for sure.

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The recent shooting at that college in Oregon.  Apparently the guy did it because he wanted to be famous.  Get his name known.  So, yeah, let's not mention his name.  The media says after every instance that they shouldn't make these guys famous, and then they do.  Shrug.

I found a very good comment on the Field Negro's blog (I'm not going to link because his commenters past maybe the first five are ... assholes), but this early comment says some of what I'd like to say, so, here it is:

Anonymous said...

    Well, if it's already been decided we're not going to do anything about access to guns (the NRA appears to have decided this for us), then we're left attacking the motive for using them.

    But then, we run up against other complaints from some of the same wingnuts who resist gun control.

    If we want to do something about street crime, we've got to create a fairer economic climate so that everyone can earn a legitimate living. That means greater funding of education, industrial policy to develop poor urban and rural areas, better transportation to jobs, labor laws that boost the average worker's wages, etc. It also means reversing "tough-on-crime" [justice system] policy: ending the Drug War, less-punitive sentences for non-violent crime, incentivizing employers to look past ex-cons' records in hiring, etc.

    Inevitably, all of that stuff requires higher taxes and lower incomes for rich people and/or being "nice" to criminals, so that's a "no" from conservatives.

    On the other hand, if we want to reduce mass shootings, the main avenue is addressing mental illness. Yet, mental health care costs rich people money, so that's out, too.

    Thus so we're back to the usual completely ineffective conservative remedies: scold black people, recommend everyone get some more Jesus in their lives, bash immigrants. Lather, rinse, repeat.

    Same shit, different day.

I love the way people  like Jeb Bush say "nobody" knows how to fix it, so we can't.  Um, Jeb, there are several other developed countries who HAVE fixed it.  Listen to Obama's speech and you'll hear about them.  Nobody?

I figure one of the first things to do is to get special interest money out of the election process, so maybe our representatives can represent the people instead of _______________ (fill in the blank with the NRA, the Koch brothers, whatever you like, or don't like).  Other countries have been able to figure this out.  Don't know why we can't --- oh, yeah, look who we're asking to do the reforming....  ne'mind.  Hopeless.

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The green quote at the top is random, but today I read it and think, "Yeah, well, what else can you do?"  The whole damn country is drinking poison.
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3660 Sandy - the second week

Wednesday, November 14, 2012

"Regret for the things we did can be tempered by time;

it is regret for the things we did not do that is inconsolable."

-- Sidney J. Harris --

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Continuation.  From my paper notes:

Mon, 11/5

Still no power.  They keep moving the estimate out.  It's literally freezing outside, and there's a classic nor'easter predicted for Tuesday and Wednesday.   My house is COLD!  My usual body temp is 97.5 or so, and my body is very heat-conserving - when I'm cold, blood flow to my skin and extremities shuts down.  I get chilblains when I get too cold.  As of today, I've had it.  I'd feel better if we'd get some kind of hard believable estimate.

[Now, I know there are people who, as of 11/14, as I'm posting this, still have nothing.  People with small children in poorly insulated buildings with no heat and no hope of any for weeks yet.  People running out of food with no stores open near them, and no transportation.  People sleeping on floors in shelters.  I know that, and I know I should feel grateful that things worked out comparatively well here.  But that doesn't change the fact that on 11/5 I was COLD!  And miserable.]

I want a hotel room!  (I discovered that with no phone book, and no internet, and a stupid-phone, it's a bit difficult to figure out how to make calls.)  I know that refugees and utility workers have filled most of the hotels with power anywhere near here.  I started calling the most expensive hotels first, figuring they'd be the last to have filled up.  Surprise - there are no rooms available anywhere within 70 miles.

Ok.  Put another pair of socks on and take another bath.  Between the hot baths and the chilblains, my skin is going to fall off.

We finally have some gas stations open along that 4-lane road.  Odd-even rationing.   Long lines, including people with gas cans trying to get generator fuel.  Luckily, Hal has about 280 miles worth already in his belly.

Neighborhood kids are sad - no Hallowe'en this year.  The Governor had postponed Hallowe'en to today, but with no heat, nobody wants to be opening doors repeatedly.

Mail today.  Still no checks.  They are now a week late.

Tues, 11/6

Neighbor George's generator is ancient.  It makes grinding noises.  He had set it up just under my bedroom window.  Oddly, the sound doesn't bother me.  Something about the key or timbre.  It sort of doesn't register in my ears.  Except that now it has begun backfiring.  That amuses me.

Voting day.  All the polling stations have been combined, all voting will be at the township hall, where there's limited parking.  I figured there'd be cars lined up waiting to get in, and hours-long lines inside.  Big surprise.  I parked in the lot, and when I got in, there was only one person ahead of me at the booth for my district.  Kind of sad.

A few restaurants are now open, so I ate lunch out and doggie-bagged half for dinner.  I think I'll do that every day now.

I'm running out of candles, only two left.  Hit a bunch of stores.  No candles anywhere to be found.  But in Home Depot I found a battery-operated LED lamp that runs on four D-cells.  Of course, there are no D-cells left anywhere.  As I was headed to the checkout with my lamp (hoping maybe I had some D-cells in a closet somewhere), a just-arrived case of D-cells, still on the pallet, was opened right next to me.  I snagged 2 8-packs.  I'm set for life!

Estimate for power is now Saturday.

My slab is getting colder, and Jasper is still unhappy.  "Fix it, Mommy!"

Wed, 11/7

The traffic lights came back!  The intersections are now open!

Remember that nor'easter?  I think it's here.  It's quietly snowing, 2 pm.  And it's sticking.  They were predicting a lot of wind, so this is a bit of a bust, but hey, we'll take it.

We have still seen NO utility trucks in this whole neighborhood.  Not even a glimpse of one.  Wires are still down blocking some streets.  We are now the only section anywhere around here with no power.  Keyport was clobbered, as shown in the video in an earlier post, and THEY have power!  It's maddening to drive three blocks north or south and see streetlights and porch lights.  And to see people sitting in warm living rooms watching TV.  Like, why are they more deserving?  Why are we ignored?  NO FAIR!

Wow.  One can get very personal and very emotional about stuff like this.

Mail - the checks arrived!

Thurs, 11/8

Woke to a few inches of snow on the ground.

BTW, cell phone reception has been odd since the storm.  I've called Daughter, and it rings and goes to voice message, and then when I shrug and walk across the street, she says it didn't ring, AND my message isn't there.  Several of her friends said the same thing, that they called or texted her, but there's no evidence that it went anywhere.  I have also made a few calls outside, to upstate NY and Pa, and they seemed to ring at the destination, but there'd be no answer and no switch to voicemail.  But other times it'd work fine.  Someone said there were towers down and the remaining towers got overloaded, but even so, one should not have got the impression the call went through when it didn't.

Daughter and Hercules are spatting over the generator.  He wants to still restrict it to a few hours in the morning and evening to save propane.  She points out that tanks are fairly easy to find now that fewer people are on generators, not like earlier when you couldn't find propane anywhere.   She thinks it's unfair that he sits in a warm office all day, with lights and radio and everything, and then thinks he can dictate unnecessary conservation to her.  Frankly, I agree with her.

No garbage collection again.  We've had one collection since the hurricane, and that was on an unscheduled day, so no one had their garbage out.  We can usually hear the trucks on the next street over, so we can rush our stuff out, but with all the generators running, we can't hear them coming.

Speaking of generators, the exhaust is settling close to the ground, and I can feel it affecting my breathing.

Fri, 11/9

Saw the first utility truck on our street.  George ran out and flagged him down.  Guy says today, with luck.  Just in time.  It's 50 degrees F mid-day in my house, colder overnight.  I was about ready to improvise a fireplace in an unused corner of the living room.

Electricity came back on at 6 pm, and has stayed on.

I opened the refrigerator for the first time since the hurricane started, and the smell was so bad I immediately slammed it shut again.  Not a spoiled meat smell, more a rotted vegetable smell.  I'll clean it out on Sunday evening, ready for (I hope!) Monday's garbage collection.

Lost from the freezer:

The above is just from the freezer.  Add from the refrigerator a large bunch of kale, fresh (heh, not so any more) asparagus,  carrots, celery, opened yogurt which was probably edible but had absorbed that terrible odor, boiled eggs, deli sandwich meat, opened mayonnaise, creamy horseradish sauce, grape juice, cottage cheese, cream cheese, half an onion, half a jar of three bean salad, etc.

P.S. - Yes, that's Eggo waffles.  I refuse to be embarrassed.  That's the first Eggos I've bought in like 15 years, and they're for the Nugget!

---------------------------------

So, today, 11/14, things are looking more normal (of course, I'm speaking only for this area).  Stores are restocking.  Most restaurants away from the waterfront are open.  Sadly, many of the most popular, the ones with ocean-front or bay-side views, may never open again.


This morning, I was awakened by birds chirping.  The little birds are finally back.  Oddly, the seagulls and terns are still missing, and no geese have flown over since the Monday of Sandy.  Yesterday I realized that part of the reason for the odd quiet the first few days after the storm was the absence of airplanes.  We are on the flight path for the NYC airports, but so far out that when the planes pass over, they are very high.  But there are never fewer than three high planes visible at any moment, so even though they aren't loud, it's a constant low sound, always present.

During those eleven days with no TV or internet, I know I should have taken advantage of  all the otherwise wasted time to get some stuff done here.  But - I was cold!  I read almost every moment.  Not moving and not exposing body parts, huddling next to candles, was much nicer.

I have about 80 books lined up on the Kindle, and was disgusted that I couldn't read them, because I couldn't recharge the darn thing.  New and lasting appreciation for paper books!   Future post - what I read.

Oh, free piece of advice - don't buy a used car for at least the next two years.
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3659 Sandy - the first week

Wednesday, November 14, 2012

"Liberty lies in the hearts of men and women; when it dies there, no constitution,

no law, no court can even do much to help it.

While it lies there it needs no constitution, no law, no court to save it."

-- Billings Learned Hand --

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Continuation - More from my paper notes after the hurricane:

Tues, 10/30

1:30 pm - 68 degree F in the house.  There's a feisty little garter snake in the back yard.  He seems very frightened.  Usually the garter snakes slither away when approached.  This guy coiled and struck repeatedly.  Poor guy's probably lost, disoriented, and cold.

We have many squirrels here.  I haven't seen any yet since the storm.  There are no birds, either.  Except for generators, it's very quiet.

Wed, 10/31

Guy across the street is related to someone in the state police.  A police car pulled up and delivered a large very heavy box.  Generator?  They cut the nylon straps off the box and left them lying in the street.  That pissed me off.

No mail delivery since Saturday.  I'm worried about my checks.

A neighbor came to my door.  She said a water dept person said to spread the word that water was going to be shut off, so we should store water.  Daughter split the street with her and went door to door.  I stored water in multiple containers and in plastic-lined cardboard boxes in the bathtub.  About three hours later I got a "Code Red" cell call from the township saying it's a false rumor, please stop calling the township and police department about it, the water is fine.  I asked Daughter if she was now going to go back to all those doors and tell them it's ok.  She snarled at me.

George says the local big chain grocery store is open - sort of.  Hercules and I went. Surreal experience.  Lights maybe one per aisle.  Dark.  Empty shelves.  They had a full dairy section, though.  I tried to buy yogurt and eggs, and they chased me away from the shelves.  They were pulling everything from that section, including wrapped blocks of cheese, and throwing it in dumpsters.  Pissed me off some more.  Unbroken free-range eggs do not need refrigeration, and you can be even surer by cooking the yolks solid.  I mean hey, farm eggs often sit under a hot hen for a few days before they're collected.  And unopened yogurt with live culture and no fruit or sugar added doesn't need refrigeration, either.  Throwing it all out is a terrible waste, when lots of folks have no food.

Here's something that drove me crazy, another complete waste ---

First you have to understand NJ roads.  Four-lane roads are almost always divided and don't allow left turns off them, only rights. There are openings in the dividers only at larger crossing roads.  That means that if where you're going is on the left side of the road or you'd like to turn left at one of those intersections, you have to pass it and keep going until you get to a "jug handle" on the right, where you can curl around, kind of like one quarter of a mini-cloverleaf.  This means that although the store you want to go to is practically across the street, you will have to drive sometimes several miles to get to it, and then several miles the other direction to get back from it.

The grocery store (also my bank and a few other stores) is on the corner across from where the only remaining way out of our neighborhood dumps on to a divided 4-lane.  It's less than a mile from my house.  I've walked to it.  Normally, I just cross the 4-lane road and turn left off the side road into the strip mall.  Hercules and I were shocked to find orange cones across the intersection.  Traffic lights were out, so the police had made the entire road divided all the way north and south!   To get across the intersection, we had to turn right and drive north until we came to a street where we could go under the 4-lane.  Then to get back home from the store, we had to go south until we got to a place with an overpass over the 4-lane.  The trip, normally about two miles, came to 8.5 miles.

The complete waste?  1.)  There were no gas stations open, and people were desperate for gas for generators, so hey, let's make them waste gas!  2.)  At every impassible intersection there were a minimum of two police cars, usually three, with the cops sitting there making sure no one tried to go through the cones.  Uh, I understand that the traffic lights were out.  I don't understand why the cops weren't simply directing traffic.  I mean, there were at least two of them there anyway.  Don't they teach traffic directing in cop school any more?  Heck, it's more fun to waste gas, I guess.  And it's not like it's dangerous - the school crossing guards could show them how.

That absolutely thoroughly freakin' pissed me off to the point of screaming.

The neighborhood kids are sad.  Hallowe'en has been postponed to next Monday, by order of the Governor.   He's a bit optimistic, methinks.

Thurs, 11/1

Quarterly real estate taxes are due today.  I went to the township building with my check and stub, undated because I wasn't sure the office was open.  It was, and the clerk was shocked that I was there to pay my taxes.  Apparently, no one else did.

61 degrees F in the house today at 2 pm. I LOVE my bed.  With the good comforter on it, I'm warm as toast at night.  During the day I'm wearing warm snow boots and multiple layers, and a hat, and I'm still cold.  I've discovered that a hot bath will actually keep me warm for a few hours after.  The worst part is getting dressed in the morning, climbing out of a warm bed to mid-50s, and putting on cold clothes.  I've been going to bed at 8 or 8:30 pm, when the house starts to cool down, and then reading by candlelight.  (I put a fire extinguisher next to the bed.)

The parkway is open, so Hercules was able to get to work today.  He's is in the IT department of a utility holding company.  He spent most of the day on the phone lining up hotel rooms for the thousands of visiting utility workers arriving from all over the US and Canada.

Today is garbage collection day (Monday and Thursday).  People hopefully put their garbage out.  It was not picked up.

Today was the first sunny day since Sunday.

Fri, 11/2

Windy today.  Temperature outside dropping.  The garbage trucks came by, but of course everyone had taken the garbage back in.  Sigh.

House is still getting into low 60s during the day.  I am pleased that the house seems to stay about 20 degrees above the outside temps.  Daughter and Hercules have the small generator on a few hours every day, and they have an old furnace in the basement used by the previous owner to heat just the basement that doesn't depend on electric start.  They're using that, and it's been keeping their house in the higher 60s and low 70s.  Daughter wants me to come over to their house "to get warm", and to sleep there, but I have horribly insulted her by refusing.  I'm cold, but fine.  And I know that we can't spend much time in each other's company before she starts "reading negative into" everything I say or don't say, and getting bitchy.  So, thanks, but I'm ok.

The Nugget has been on antibiotics and decongestants since before the storm, when she was diagnosed with a head cold, croup, and 2 infected ears.  She'd been doing fine, but late today she suddenly spiked a 102 fever, and was very lethargic.  The lethargy worried me more than the fever.  Worse, the antibiotic would run out tomorrow.   Pediatrician's office gets no answer. 

Sat, 11/3

The original township estimate was that we would get power today.  Most business along the highway have full or partial power.  Some residential neighborhoods are back up. 

Daughter called pediatrician, and they were open!  But, they're in triage mode.  Nugget isn't at death's door, so they just called in a refill on the meds.    Nugget seems to be feeling better anyway.

I saw the first squirrel today.  I am pleased that he's the young one who caches in my lawn.  I figured he was hungry, so I threw him some peanuts.  No other squirrels showed up, so I suspect he's the only returnee.  I wonder where he was.  Seems like if he was just sheltered under a shed or something, he'd have been back sooner.

Still no birds.  That's beginning to feel weird.

Mail delivery today.  Still no checks.

Sun, 11/4

Some birds are back!  Daughter's bluejays, both the male and the female.  George has a pair of cardinals who nest in his eaves and like to sit in his birch - the female was in the birch this morning.  Haven't seen the male yet.  The robin who nests in a branch over my driveway is back, the female, anyway.  Still none of the noisily cheerful little birds yet.

Temp will go below freezing tonight.

All the residential neighborhoods around us have power.  We still don't.  Something about a substation destroyed or something. We feel neglected.  Seeing the lights of others makes us feel even colder.

Food - I've been eating yogurt, cheese, eggs, oatmeal, grits, those no-refrigeration vacuum-sealed dinners (they're supposed to be heated in a microwave, but do just fine in a pot on the stove), canned veggies, stews, soups, peanuts, cookies, and lots of fruit.  On Wednesday's excursion to the grocery store I found no-refrig bacon.  Expensive, but actually quite good.

I drove down some of the streets along our waterfront, past where the sea wall ends.  It's so sad to see house after house with all of the family's possessions piled on the curb.  Furniture, bags of clothing, toys,  appliances, chunks of soggy drywall, mattresses, books, photo albums, carpets, all of it.  Back in 1999 when my house burst a pipe and flooded, I was able to save almost everything that wasn't cloth or paper.  But my stuff just sat in a foot of clean water (well, clean until the mold started).  This stuff had been literally battered back and forth in several feet of filthy water.  Big difference. I appreciate our sea wall even more.

...to be continued.
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3657 Sandy - the day after

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

"Talk sense to a fool and he calls you foolish."

-- Euripides  --

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Continuing the Sandy saga:

Tues, 10/30
8:00 am - I walked down to the sea wall to see what had happened.


[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yrGCUtSgDYQ]

The space between the sidewalk and the access road had been sandy, with lots of plants, with little paths here and there through the plants so you could get from the road to the walkway.  You couldn't see the rocks except in a few places.  Plants and sand are now all gone.  The sidewalk, which is just two years old, has been badly undermined, and many of the slabs are cracked.

In the distance, coming in from the right, you can faintly see a spit of land sticking out into the bay.  I think that saves us from the worst of the waves.

The air would be still for about 20 minutes, and then there'd be wind gusts and rain for maybe 5 minutes, then stillness again, through most of the morning.  Hercules said it was probably the last of the outer spiral arms passing. I got soaked on my walk back from the seawall.

I'm going to do something here that isn't nice.  I'm going to copy photos from another person's blog.  Usually when I do something like that, I send you to the other blog, or at the minimum I post the photo and then link to the source.  I would like to do that here, except that he/she is very specific about the location - and I prefer to be a little more mysterious about where I live.  Deter stalkers, dontcha know.

So, I'm at least being clear that the following are not my own photos.

This is the sea wall after the storm, and gives a better picture of the height difference from the water to the walkway on top of the wall, up to the access road, and on up the bank.  The waves were well over the bank.  The clear area between the walk and the road had been full of plants.

This is at the end of the sea wall (that's the "mesa" in the middle) and where the beach starts.  You may have seen the video from this past summer of Nugget playing in the sand.  There's now no sand left.  There had been large dunes between the beach and the street that runs along here.  The dunes are gone.

To the right, what's left of the beach.  On the left, what's left of a park.  Between the posts (that used to be guard rails, but the rails washed away) is a street, now covered in sand.  All the electric/telephone poles have completely disappeared.

A closer view of the street.  In the distance is a bridge.  See that white house through the trees (under the leaning pole)?  Flooded out.

Please note that there are only three routes out of our neighborhood, and the above street and bridge is one of them.

Here's a video of the town next door.  You'll see a bridge with boats on it.  Yeah, ON it.  There is a huge marina there, and boats were washed up all over the place, huge million-dollar boats stacked on top of each other, all over the roads, yards, jammed into houses, some a quarter mile away.  That bridge?  With the boats on it?  And the leaking gas and propane tanks under it?  That's the second of the three ways out of our neighborhood. (Warning - annoying loud music. Cut the sound.)


These were our "early reports", places we could walk or bike to.  We had next to no idea what had happened elsewhere.

It's frustrating to have no TV, no radio, no internet.  You don't know what's happening out there.  But we saw enough nearby to be very grateful for that miserable little sea wall that bravely protected us from the water.  Our street had one tree down on a roof, and one tree down on the road at the very end of the street near the sea wall.  Streets to the south, east, and west of ours didn't fare so well, but still better than neighborhoods north and south of us.  Multiple trees and lines down here, but almost no damage to property.  Just messy.  All our telephone poles survived.  This gave us hope that we could get power back soon.

Yeah, sure.

1:30 pm - getting trickles of news, like looting hither and yon, don't know what to believe.  We can't get out of the immediate neighborhood.  Two routes to the highway involving bridges are blocked, the third way is open, but it isn't much help to get to the highway, because southbound and northbound are both blocked by trees, boats, and BUILDINGS! on the road.

It's 68 degrees F in the house, and I already feel cold.

1:55 pm - I am confirmed as an idiot.  I just discovered I have hot water.  I didn't know my gas water heater has some kind of non-electric non-pilot-light thingamabob starter.

People are starting up generators.  The big box hardware store has them coming in by the truckload and if you wait in line for enough hours you might be able to get one.  Unfortunately, propane and gasoline is almost impossible to find.  Daughter and Hercules have a very small propane generator which they plan to run only a few hours a day.

I have candles and the gas stove, hot water, some non-perishable food, and lots of books.  I figure I'll be ok for up to maybe four days.

The fates laugh.  It gets worse.

To be continued.
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3656 Sandy, continued - she passes over

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Stupidity fuels itself.

 -- The Man --

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Ok.  I was "blogging the storm" on Monday, October 29, and my last entry was that the lights had flickered.  Then silence for the next eleven days.

I kept on "blogging", though, on paper.   These days I keep notes on everything.  Otherwise it never happened.

From my notes:
Mon, 10/29

2:20 pm - electricity out, switching to paper

2:30 pm - branches in the street

3:15 pm - wind is getting scary.  moaning and rushing and roaring sounds.  People are walking down the street toward the seawall.

3:20 pm - neighbor banged on my door, he's worried about the huge sweetgum tree in my back yard.  It's scaring me, too.

4:00 pm - videoed (is that a word?) the sweetgum.  It's actually twisting in a spiral in the wind, which means it's flexible, so I'm not as worried now.  If that were a brittle locust my roof would already be gone.


[http://youtu.be/M-O1JLFpgms]

4:15 pm - people across the street hurriedly packed up the car and left.  Jasper is worried, glued to my ankle.  "Fix it, Mommy!"

5:05 pm - wind is N to S, flocks of birds flying E to W, don't seem too bothered by wind.  Just saw three kids, 12-14, walking down the street to the seawall.  Got out the candles.

5:10 pm - the wind is odd.  It's like there's a dome about 10' high over us.  Above that, the trees are thrashing wildly.  Below it, the air is still.  There's NO wind on my porch, for example, and the piles of leaves at the curb are undisturbed.

5:15 pm - folks 2 houses down loaded car and left.  I'd be afraid to leave now for fear roads would be blocked and I could go neither forward nor back.

5:25 pm - huge tree fell on house across street and two houses up.  Messed up their roof.  It's very dark.  Would be nice to just go to bed, but not alone....

6:10 pm - Daughter and Nugget are outside!  In street, talking with neighbors.  We still seem to have that ground-level protective dome, but trees are still dangerous.  Neighbor says waves are coming over seawall.

7:20 pm - many bright flashes low in the sky.  First thought was transformers, but then realized it's sheet lightening (cloud-to-cloud).

8:45 pm - where's the rain?  Lots predicted, but it's been no more than a drizzle.

10:15 pm - much quieter outside.

Midnight - asleep.  I slept in the opposite end of the house from the sweetgum.  Was surprised how quickly and easily I fell asleep and how soundly I slept.

Tues, 10/30
6:30 am - awake.  All quiet outside.  All done?

**to be continued, next post**
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3653-2 Sandy, Monday, 11:10 am

Wind has picked up.  It's not steady, though.  Strong gusts in one spot while 50 feet away the air is still.   Light rain, almost a drizzle.  Neighbor's garbage has hit the road.  People are walking down the street, heading for the seawall.  I am tempted, but I don't have any waterproof jackets and an umbrella would be ridiculous.  Tall trees up the street are beginning to worry me.  Most amazing - birds are flying, and they don't seem to be driven by the wind!

3653-1 Sandy, 9:55 AM Monday

Monday, October 29, 2012

If I have not seen as far as others,

it is only because giants have been standing on my shoulders.

----------------------------------------

I don't understand.  I doubt I ever will.

The eye is now projected to pass about 80 miles south of here late this evening.  On TV I'm seeing wind, waves, and sea-surge flooding in NYC, north of here, and really bad stuff south, around the tip of NJ.  The air is full of water.

Here?  Nothing.  There's some high wind tossing the tops of taller trees, but not more than normal with any summer storm.  I'm sure it will rapidly get worse, but I'm surprised to see so much going on already north and south, but nothing here.

Yet.

-----------------------------------

Garbage collection for today has been cancelled.  As predicted, the folks across the street have their garbage out for collection.  Two large garbage cans, without lids.

Idiots.

A few people have wondered whether they'd have to take this or that in.  People seem to think heavy patio furniture and grills would be safe to leave out, unsecured.

My advice:  Imagine putting it on the hood of your car and then driving 60 mph.  Same thing.

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If you are ever advised to store water by filling the bathtub, forget it.  Few bathtubs will hold water for more than a day.  Having lived in an area where everyone has wells, so no electricity means no water, I know how to store it.

Cardboard boxes and garbage bags.  Put the boxes in the bathtub, line them with sturdy plastic bags, then fill them.
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3652 Thrashing

Sunday, October 28, 2012

Confidence - The feeling you have before you fully understand the situation.

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(I do hope that green randomly-generated quote above is not prophetic.)
 
If you don't hear from me for a while, it'll be because we lost power.

Yesterday was weird.  All up and down the street, people were raking and blowing leaves into the street.

Duh?  Why?

They are all just going to blow, and what doesn't blow away will block the storm drains as soon as it rains.

If you have a day and a half before all hell breaks loose, why are you spending that time raking leaves?

I don't understand.

Tomorrow is garbage collection day.  I will not be surprised to see garbage cans at the curb.

Sheesh.

---------------------------------

I searched the blog to help remember when last year's hurricane was, and I found this, from August 2011:

Back in the mid-70s, Dr. K. said that one of my problems involved feelings of omnipotence, that I felt I was personally responsible for everything bad that happened. No wonder, given that my father blamed me for everything.

Anyhow, it's awfully hard not to fall back into that.

I mean, there's a lot of circumstantial evidence. People have been convicted of murder on less.

Let's examine:
I bought the house last fall.
This past winter [2010-2011] was the coldest and snowiest here in decades.
This summer [2011] had the worst heat wave in decades.
Last week we felt seismic activity for the first time ever here.
Now we're to get a hurricane, and the last time an eye passed directly over this area was in the 19th century!

I rest my case.  

Today, add to the list what is predicted to be the worst storm since the 1800's, and the eye will (probably) be passing about 20 miles south.

I am Typhoon Mary.

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I am hoping that the wind and ocean surge predictions are exaggerated because no government entity wants to be accused of downplaying it.  Daughter and Hercules, and the Nugget, plan to stay here.  "We have a generator now." 

I'm not happy with that, because the Nugget has been very sick with a head cold, croup, and TWO infected ears.  She was limp-sick on Friday, but a little better yesterday now that she has antibiotics.  But I don't know where else they could go with a sick baby.

Also, while my house is 29' above sea level, their house is at least 8' lower.

Well, excuse me while I bring outdoor furniture in and corral the flamingo herd.

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Flash:  NYC Mayor is on TV right now, he says surge is expected to be 10-11 feet.  Ok.  That's a lot better than the 20' I was hearing yesterday!  I guess I don't have to worry about fish in my living room.
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3651 Weathermen or Tarot cards?

Friday, October 26, 2012

It is the insane that make the sane go insane.

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Constant storm warnings on TV, and it isn't even expected until Monday evening.

The only thing that would worry me is splash/overflow from the bay.  I'm about 29 feet above sea level, Maybe 600 feet from the bay.  The TV folks are confusing me.

To consider:
- high tide.
- storm surge.
- waves
- rain unable to go into the storm drains because the drains are full of leaves (and washed away Hallowe'en decorations).

Tide - They're saying high tide is 8 feet.  Huh?  Maybe in constricted areas.  Judging by what I have seen on the piers in the bay, I'd say less than 5 feet.

Surge - There's been three different guys talking, all on the same channel.  One says 5 to 10 foot surge.  Another says 10 to 20.  Another said 8 to 12.  Who do I believe?

Waves - "Up to 20 foot waves."  Wow.  That "up to" really covers every possibility, doesn't it?

Rain - I LOVE the way everyone here rakes and blows their leaves into the street.  Right over the drains.

So adding the numbers up, I can expect somewhere between 0 and 19 feet of water in my house.

Cool.  But I'm staying here.

Note - I did evacuate in August of last year, a hurricane, but that was less for myself and more to convince Daughter and Hercules to go.  The Nugget was 4 months old, and I mainly wanted her out.

3650 Panic

Friday, October 26, 2012

Clinton lied. A man might forget where he parks or where he lives,

but he never forgets oral sex, no matter how bad it is.

-- Barbara Bush (Former US First Lady) --

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A lot of freakin' out going on.  Some kind of super storm supposed to hit up the east coast.  The local township is sending out email alerts that make it sound like there will be no food, water, or power available for weeks.  The water-heavy sky is going to fall and flatten us like a pancake and then float it all out into the ocean.

The town of Rhinebeck, NY, near my country house, is also drumming up a panic with email broadsides.  They seem to think that the world is going to blow away, leaving everything flat as a pancake, not a blade of grass standing.

Ok, who's the spoilsport who sued a municipality for not warning people sufficiently about weather, so now they're afraid NOT to scare the pants off people?

This is ridiculous.  Tell us something is coming.  Give us the best prediction as to rainfall, windspeeds, etc.  It really isn't necessary to scream at us.  I'm tired of being treated like an infant.

FLASH:  The NYC mayor is on TV right now talking about precautions and plans being put into place for the storm, and how people can get information and assistance if needed.  He's being matter-of-fact and serious without being hysterical.

You know, his calmness has got me thinking about it, whereas the local and upstate hysteria just had me rolling my eyes and passing it off.

--------------------------------

Speaking of infants, the Nugget is very sick.  She has a cold, it's going into her chest, frighteningly high fever, and she has two infected ears.  Remember I said she's very strong?  Well, it's next to impossible to get medicine into her.  She fights like a tiger.  She clings to Daughter, won't allow any space between them.  Daughter has Hercules and me to help her out with a sick baby.  She asked today how on earth I managed alone.

Well, I didn't tell her, I'll let her think that's how it always is, but the biggest difference is that Daughter would take the medicine if I asked her to.  She was very compliant.  Nugget will not allow anything she doesn't want, that's that, and there's no reasoning with her. That's different, but not better or worse, and I don't want Daughter to wish it otherwise.

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John Scalzi has written a letter from "a rapist" to conservative politicians, thanking them for making his hobby so much more satisfying.  It's sadly funny and it's infuriating.  Please go read it, at http://whatever.scalzi.com/2012/10/25/a-fan-letter-to-certain-conservative-politicians/.  You won't be sorry you took the minutes to read it.  An excerpt:

Ah, I see by your surprised face that you at the very least claim to have no idea what I’m talking about. Well, here’s the thing. Every time you say “I oppose a woman’s right to abortion, even in cases of rape,” what you’re also saying is “I believe that a man who rapes a woman has more of a right to control a woman’s body and life than that woman does.”

3350 Enterprise

Saturday, September 3, 2011

Even a minor event in the life of a child is an event of that child's world and thus a world event.
-- Gaston Bachelard, scientist and philosopher --

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The Mid-Hudson Valley suffered more damage to electrical wires than New Jersey, I think. Probably because there are more trees there, and the mountains channeled and increased the force of the winds.

Central Hudson, the electric company up there, has been faced with a head-shaking problem. They arrive to repair downed wires and transformers, and the wires and transformers are gone!

People are stealing the dead wires!
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3347 Becs and her feline family are fine...

Sunday, August 28, 2011

[T]he interaction between students and teachers has become one of "intellectual hide and seek." The students try to match what they think the teacher wants to hear. If you can do that, you can be "successful" in school.
-- Ron Beghetto, an education psychologist at the University of Oregon --

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Just talked with Becs by phone. She and her entire feline family are alive and coping. She's been getting requests for assurances, but can't respond to all of them, so she asked me to let y'all know. (It's nice so many are concerned. I'm impressed with you all.)

Her electricity is out, which means no sump pump, so the water in her basement is about 18 inches deep. She's afraid her furnace, washer and dryer are kaput, and she's sadly lost some things, like journals and yarns.

The fire department arrived while we were talking - they'll pump out her basement for her.

Estimate for return of her electricity is this evening, so by tomorrow she may be back in the blogosphere.
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3346 Still standing

Sunday, August 28, 2011

Act now. Pray later.

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Daughter called a neighbor. He says flooding is minimal, just inadequate storm drain and overwhelmed sump pump kind of stuff, they still have electricity, and no trees in the immediate neighborhood are down. He's got 2 inches of water in his basement. He's not sure of conditions outside the neighborhood, and there's still wind, but so far so good.

(Actually, there's still a potential for flood. The little stream behind my house carries street runoff, and that can take time to build. But it's no longer a major worry.)
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3345 Which is worse?

Sunday, August 28, 2011

Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent.
Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent.
Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil?
Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God?
-- Epicurus, 3rd century BC --

(Epicurus makes the mistake of attributing human qualities to God.
Perhaps God is simply watching his Great Experiment, tweaking occasionally to keep it interesting.)
-- Silk --

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I seem to have traded hurricane wind-blown projectiles for tornadoes. I've been looking out the hotel window at horizontal torrents, wind-whipped trees, swaying lamp posts, and hearing tornado tracking on the TV station out of Philadelphia. I forgot that tornadoes are spawned all around the edges of hurricanes.

I dunno which is worse. In a hurricane, you've got projectiles thrown at you. In a tornado, you ARE the projectile.
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3344 In hiding

Saturday, August 27, 2011

Sometimes the squeaky wheel gets the axe.
-- RockyCat --

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I'm now in a hotel in Reading, Pa. It's funny - the parking lot is full of cars with NJ plates. Huh? It's not like Reading is an obvious place to run to. Weird.

Irene is 500 miles wide, and I'm now about 180 miles from the projected eye, so I'm not completely beyond the effects, but at least they'll be less.

Before I left the house, I filled two bathtubs and a few gallon jugs with water, took up the downstairs rugs, put all the outside flower pots in the garage, gathered important papers and good jewelry, and parked Fred on the lawn across the front of the house. Maybe he'll protect the front windows a little. At least I'm sure my auto insurance will cover him, where I'm not sure how much the homeowner's insurance will cover. Turns out I don't have flood insurance. If a window is blown out, and the house fills with rain, is that "flood"? I hope I don't have to find out.

I tried to put Fred in the garage, but he didn't fit. His rear end hung out a good foot.

I feel bad that Jasper is alone to ride out the storm. He'll hide under the bed, I think. I had to leave him because even a big storm at home would be a lot less trauma for him than a long car ride, or boarding. Jasper's the one who has seizures in the car. It really freaks him out, even with sedation.

I was careful to ensure that no matter what happens, he won't be closed out of "his" rooms. In case you ever have to do it, the way to ensure a door stays open is not to jam something under the door. If the door is worked back and forth, a doorstop can eventually be dislodged. Instead, a surer method is to squeeze a paperback book upright between the edge of the door and the door jamb on the hinge side, below the bottom hinge, resting on the floor. It isn't going to move, and in filling that space, will prevent the door from closing. In fact, if the door is "worked", the book just gets tighter.

I have this room until Monday morning. Daughter, Hercules, and the Nugget are at Hercules' father's house, just down the road. The plan is to return Monday, but there's no guarantee we'd be able to get home Monday. Depends on whether roads are open and so on. Daughter has people she can call to find out.
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3343 Missiles

Friday, August 26, 2011

When someone shows you who they are, believe them.
-- RockyCat --

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I just realized that the old house is going to get hit by Irene, too, and I have had no opportunity to batten down the hatches there. That worries me a bit.

At first I wasn't too worried about wind damage here, but walking around the neighborhood, I am now worried.

What makes people think that turning a patio table upside down is going to save it from 100 mph winds? Then there's the guy two houses down who has taken his enormous rowboat off the trailer, and turned it upside down on the front lawn. It's curved, so upside down makes it MORE likely to catch the wind.

And then there's the immediate neighbors, right over the fence to the north. Their back yard is so full of stuff, toys, benches, awnings, that when I first saw it, I thought they were running a daycare center. It's all still there. I'm afraid all their crap is going to end up in my dining room.

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Post #3341 has been updated with current status. We are evacuating.
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3341 Hurricane, Omnipotence

Thursday, August 25, 2011

"Isn't it interesting that the same people who laugh at science fiction
listen to weather forecasts and economists?"
-- Kevin Throop III --

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Hurricane.

According to the latest TV maps, Irene's eye is going to pass directly over us. Sunday promises to be interesting. They are predicting a 12-15 foot storm surge, on top of an astrologically high tide. I'm a half block from the bay. Neighbor George says we are 30 feet above sea level. I can't decide whether to stay here, or get Hal, Daughter, and the Nugget to someplace safer. I don't mind wind damage, as long as the house doesn't collapse wind damage is manageable, but I absolutely don't want to be stuck in a floating garbage cesspool for days, with flooded cars and no way out.

I don't know where that safer place might be.

Daughter, Nugget, and I had planned to head upriver for the weekend, she to a commitment in Poughkeepsie on Saturday, and dropping me off at the garage where Suzie the Susuki has been vacationing for the past six weeks, thence to a Mensa dinner on Saturday in New Paltz, and then I'd bring Suzie down here. Daughter and I would be driving back separately on Saturday night or Sunday morning.

Yeah, sure.

According to the maps, the eye will be tracking right up the highways to the mid-Hudson valley, right over Poughkeepsie and New Paltz, and I absolutely don't want us on the roads in that mess.

Governor Crispy-Creme is urging people to leave the shore areas, but has not yet ordered evacuations. Note the "yet".

Are they kidding? The roads around here on ordinary summer weekends are impassable. The Garden State Parkway is a creeping parking lot, full of people headed to or returning from the shore. The locals speak of "shore traffic", and they're not kidding about how bad it is. And that's just people headed for the beaches. The governor is on TV assuring everyone that they can get half a million residents out on short notice, via "marked routes". Uh huh. Sure.

Sigh.

Maybe I should buy an inflatable life raft.

------------------------------------------------------------

Back in the mid-70s, Dr. K. said that one of my problems involved feelings of omnipotence, that I felt I was personally responsible for everything bad that happened. No wonder, given that my father blamed me for everything.

Anyhow, it's awfully hard not to fall back into that.

I mean, there's a lot of circumstantial evidence. People have been convicted of murder on less.

Let's examine:
I bought the house last fall.
This past winter was the coldest and snowiest here in decades.
This summer had the worst heat wave in decades.
Last week we felt seismic activity for the first time ever here.
Now we're to get a hurricane, and the last time an eye passed directly over this area was in the 19th century!

I rest my case.

-----------------------------------------

I'll be updating this post as conditions change.

Thursday 8/25 5 PM - NJ has declared mandatory evacuation of the most southern parts of the state, Cape May area.

Friday 8/26 10:45 AM - Heading north is no good. Irene will just follow us. West (inland) is best, so I went to Google maps to find out what's the best route west and what's a good place to head for. Reading, Pa., is directly west, and by marvelous coincidence, Hercules' father, brother, and grandmother live in Reading. There's a fair chance I can talk Daughter and Hercules to go to Reading. Hercules is currently in a training class just northwest of Philadelphia, planning to come home tonight. It would make more sense for him to go directly to Reading. Daughter talked to him on the phone last night, and in typical young proud homeowner / new father fashion he wants her and the baby to go to Reading, while he comes home and HAND PUMPS the basement to keep it from flooding. We have to convince him that's not feasible. His father had already invited him to ride out the storm in Reading, so maybe....

Friday 8/26 5:55 PM - I have reservations at a hotel in Reading, Pa., for Saturday and Sunday night. Daughter will be leaving this evening, joining Hercules at his father's home in Reading.
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