The above photo gives you an idea of our hurricane preparedness. Note large bottle of brandy – every bit as essential as anything else when the power’s out and all you can hear is howling wind and the weather radio, and you’re already getting on each other’s nerves.
It’s very windy now, and power is starting to go out in different places across the state. This could be my last post for a while, but my fingers are crossed.
Last night the fire department came and handed us a mandatory evacuation notice. We’re are free to stay, but no one will help us if we get into trouble.
Down at one of the marinas this morning, the water was creeping up onto the road.
We took a quick drive to the store and on the way home we stopped at Worden’s pond, the largest lake in the state. Access to the beaches is blocked now, so this intrepid windsurfer was sailing here.
When neighborhoods are evacuated, you have to go through a police checkpoint to return to your house. This officer told us “Have fun and good luck!”
The storm is still far away, but we’re starting to get some pretty strong gusts now. Sometimes the house shakes. Looks like it’s going to be a sleepless night.
Digging RI 
Very gusty here too,DN! Occasionally it sounds as if a freight train is coming through the yard! Although there are very few leaves left, the trees themselves seem to be holding out. Happy to have gotten the garlic planted a couple of days ago and put everything away including taking the bat house down! Stay safe and indoors all; hopefully the worst will be over after high tide tomorrow!
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Our power keeps going out and coming back. And I’m watching helplessly as shingles fly off our roof. We were about to get a new roof but they had to wait because of the storm.
This is a bad one for sure. House is shaking.
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A storm is arriving right now in our area; very high winds and lots of heavy run, but nothing we’ve never seen before. I hope it turns out okay for you. Stay safe!
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Well, we made it through, but it was mighty scary. The top wind speed recorded in our area was 91 mph!!!!
We have been without power since Monday, but at least our water still works. Our back yard is covered with shingles and the chimney cap that blew off our roof.
We are both going in to work, so it’s a major hassle. But we are far better off than most, so I’m grateful for that.
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You too, Martha. Hope you made it through ok.
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I’m anxiously awaiting your return, dn.
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Here I am, Cj, hanging in there.I’ll post as soon as I can.
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and? Are you relatively unscathed?
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Relatively, yes. Just very harried and inconvenienced and anxiously awaiting the return of electricity. Thanks for asking, Diana.
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Do you have any more photos of me windsurfing. That was me out there.
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I would be happy to send you what I have as soon as I have my computer back. I believe that was the only photo that came out, though. Please let me know where I should send.
Thanks
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You can send them to my email address. larsvestergaard@sbcglobal.net
Thanks
Lars
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In less than a month I’ve experienced an earthquake (ME) and now Sandy. I’m still here! Yay.
Oh DN, so glad to hear you’re OK. 85% of our town lost power, as you know. 2 HUGE oaks fell into our yard (front yard and back yard) – no one was hurt, only 30 ft of fence and my compost (sob) were destroyed. When the front yard one is cleared, we’ll check for driveway damage.
Given the timing and location of trees hit in nearby neighbors’ yard, it’s clear that it was 1 specific gust. Trees were sheared/ripped; our front yard one was sheared in 5 different places. The tree was darn healthy but defenseless against this whirling dervish gust.
Yesterday the doorbell rang several times with young men wanting to cut the front yard one down. Given that there are at least 5 widow makers in that tree, we’re leaving this to an experienced arborist. And these guys didn’t even notice the danger – speaks volumes. Well intended but scarily unprepared and unaware.
Downtown was insane last night. I had no idea b/c I’d been surviving on peanut butter for 2 days. 90 minute restaurant waits. As my daughter drove me home (my car trapped by that fallen tree), we felt like little home on the prairie folks. Yep, our brain had gotten used to impenetrable (?sp) darkness. It took us a minute to process that some roads had power. Wow, yes, our street too. We were incredulous; how did we get this lucky? I had expected days before restoration.
So – arborist is here now. No clearing sailing until we’re done w/ insurance issues. No complaints. Incredibly grateful. How anyone escaped being injured is beyond me.
Bottomline: DN, feel free to use our hot shower, hot coffee, etc.
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Thanks, but we’re ok for now. Also grateful that there were no injuries or catastrophic losses. It still sucks, though.
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When I first caught a glimpse of the windsurfer I thought it was someone “you know and love”. Hope your power comes back on soon!
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He was out before the storm hit, believe me. Read my column in Sunday’s Sun for insights into how we are dealing with this.
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Hope everyone in the southern part of the state fared well. No people lost and little property damage. The north had much less damage from Sandy than last year with Irene. Irene took out a lot of sickly trees last year. The survivors handled those gusts like troopers. I never lost power in North Smithfield. and hey!!, I’m probably a little closer to the ocean now!!! Some parts of URI and nearby neighborhoods are still out as of Nov. 1. But for MG’s coming to the training tomorrow, East Farm is up and running.
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well, we’re still without power and I have yet to see a single National Grid truck in our neighborhood. I am fed up, believe me. Our town was last to get power back during Irene, too.
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DN, glad to hear that you and everyone in your neighborhood felt liitle damage relative to those further south.
I would encourage you to get a generator once the dust settles. I took a look at HomeDepot.com and did a search for generators last night. They have quite a variety, starting at $135. Any one of the models can be purchaed online and picked up at a local store. (Very handy to know)
I have a little 1500 watt unit I bought to power my tools while I was building up north and it provided enough power as long as I only used one tool at a time. And this is the key, if you have a small unit. You must manage the usage. Not a big deal.
I found this web site http://www.donrowe.com/inverters/usage_chart.html and as you can see most appaliances use less that 1500 watts. Meaning you could power your fridge , a radio and one or two lights with a smaller unit. Even a laptop, A few extension cords are a minor inconvienience compared to throwing out food that has gone bad.
You mentioned you camping stove, and this is a definitly an asset in this situation. As well, they sell very small camping heaters that give quite a bit of heat. Enough for one room, but not the entire house. Again, managment is the key.
The down side is the noise, I know. (One day I’ll look for a better muffler for mine) Secondly you should run them once and a while, says he. Otherwise the gas will spoil and clog the carb.
All the best.
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