If life were a TV episode this episode might be called one of the following:
"Athena"
or
"Sick House"
or
"Jo Jo's Circus"
or
"Night of the Mistral"
Each title has it's own story to tell...
The family and I spent the night at a nearby friends house who returned from her parent's home in Maryland because her power had been restored. She has a wood stove so heating is guaranteed at her house.
ATHENA - The first named Nor'Easter of the season comes one week after super storm Sandy. WTF!? The Weather Channel started naming winter storms although the National Weather Service does not recognize the naming convention that TWC is using. So far the storm has likely caused many traffic accidents. I have heard of no other major headaches yet cause by the storm. Snow is accumulating on the ground now.
SICK HOUSE
All girls in the house that I am staying in have some sort of cold/flu/strep thing going on. So far my wife, my son and myself are unaffected. But it's disconcerting hearing them all cough up a lung at night when the coughing starts up. They are all getting better but the bug has gone into the cough stage of its evolution.
JO JO'S CIRCUS
The kids were watching TV this morning, while I could hear multiple chain saws working away outside and a show called Jo Jo's Circus came on. One of the girls got so excited. It's surreal to have the level of damage outside with power restored and yet many repairs still to be done to restore the infrastructure and the girls watching TV being relatively oblivious of the destruction in some of the neighborhoods.
NIGHT OF THE MISTRAL
I deployed my stash of -20F degree rated sleeping bags last night. They are Kelty sleeping bags named Mistral
. They are BIG and fluffy and are advertised to keep you warm even if the material is wet. I bought them right after moving into our house after finding out that the landlord had removed the wood stove that was shown in the pictures of the rental house right before we moved in. They are the final step in prevents us from freezing to death at night in a grid down situation. It wasn't much of a test as I slept next to a wood stove in my wife's friends house. But at last the bags got some use.
Before heading out to the county EOC, I discovered radiator fluid below my car today. I checked the fluid reservoir and it appears to be at or near the proper level. I couldn't find a leak near the hoses and will give the car a closer inspection on the weekend.
NOTE TO SELF: A reliable means of transportation can mean life or death in a disaster situation. I must get an issues with the car resolved ASAP.
I worked at the EOC in the afternoon, in preparation for the Nor'Easter. Yesterday, I had lined up eight churches in the county to be backup warming shelters if the current shelters are not enough. Today, I worked on CERT communications and data cleanup of the team roster. Luckily, the Nor'Easter has not yet required an emergency response so I am able to look back on the days since Sandy to figure where all my time went.
It breaks down into something like this:
Sandy -2 = OEM (Office of Emergency Management) Briefing on impending hurricane.
Sandy -1 = Sand bagging in the morning, help open a Red Cross shelter in the afternoon/evening.
Sandy 0 = Work at county EOC (Emergency Operations Center) taking situation reports (SitReps) from the municipalities.
Sandy +1 = Work at the county EOC taking SitReps from the municipalities.
Sandy +3 = Work at a POD (Point of Distribution) handing out water and ice.
Sandy +7 = Work at the EOC.
Sandy +8 = Work at the EOC. Preparing for incoming Nor'Easter by calling churches to be warming shelters.
Sandy +9 = Work at the EOC. At the ready for Nor'Easter response.
And now for some good news!
Power was restored to my house today.
Power was also restored to my office in the town twenty-two miles away. I can have heat and work again!
Woohoo!
Tired prepper out.
"Athena"
or
"Sick House"
or
"Jo Jo's Circus"
or
"Night of the Mistral"
Each title has it's own story to tell...
The family and I spent the night at a nearby friends house who returned from her parent's home in Maryland because her power had been restored. She has a wood stove so heating is guaranteed at her house.
ATHENA - The first named Nor'Easter of the season comes one week after super storm Sandy. WTF!? The Weather Channel started naming winter storms although the National Weather Service does not recognize the naming convention that TWC is using. So far the storm has likely caused many traffic accidents. I have heard of no other major headaches yet cause by the storm. Snow is accumulating on the ground now.
SICK HOUSE
All girls in the house that I am staying in have some sort of cold/flu/strep thing going on. So far my wife, my son and myself are unaffected. But it's disconcerting hearing them all cough up a lung at night when the coughing starts up. They are all getting better but the bug has gone into the cough stage of its evolution.
JO JO'S CIRCUS
The kids were watching TV this morning, while I could hear multiple chain saws working away outside and a show called Jo Jo's Circus came on. One of the girls got so excited. It's surreal to have the level of damage outside with power restored and yet many repairs still to be done to restore the infrastructure and the girls watching TV being relatively oblivious of the destruction in some of the neighborhoods.
NIGHT OF THE MISTRAL
I deployed my stash of -20F degree rated sleeping bags last night. They are Kelty sleeping bags named Mistral
. They are BIG and fluffy and are advertised to keep you warm even if the material is wet. I bought them right after moving into our house after finding out that the landlord had removed the wood stove that was shown in the pictures of the rental house right before we moved in. They are the final step in prevents us from freezing to death at night in a grid down situation. It wasn't much of a test as I slept next to a wood stove in my wife's friends house. But at last the bags got some use.
Before heading out to the county EOC, I discovered radiator fluid below my car today. I checked the fluid reservoir and it appears to be at or near the proper level. I couldn't find a leak near the hoses and will give the car a closer inspection on the weekend.
NOTE TO SELF: A reliable means of transportation can mean life or death in a disaster situation. I must get an issues with the car resolved ASAP.
I worked at the EOC in the afternoon, in preparation for the Nor'Easter. Yesterday, I had lined up eight churches in the county to be backup warming shelters if the current shelters are not enough. Today, I worked on CERT communications and data cleanup of the team roster. Luckily, the Nor'Easter has not yet required an emergency response so I am able to look back on the days since Sandy to figure where all my time went.
It breaks down into something like this:
Sandy -2 = OEM (Office of Emergency Management) Briefing on impending hurricane.
Sandy -1 = Sand bagging in the morning, help open a Red Cross shelter in the afternoon/evening.
Sandy 0 = Work at county EOC (Emergency Operations Center) taking situation reports (SitReps) from the municipalities.
Sandy +1 = Work at the county EOC taking SitReps from the municipalities.
Sandy +3 = Work at a POD (Point of Distribution) handing out water and ice.
Sandy +7 = Work at the EOC.
Sandy +8 = Work at the EOC. Preparing for incoming Nor'Easter by calling churches to be warming shelters.
Sandy +9 = Work at the EOC. At the ready for Nor'Easter response.
And now for some good news!
Power was restored to my house today.
Power was also restored to my office in the town twenty-two miles away. I can have heat and work again!
Woohoo!
Tired prepper out.
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