Little Bang Theory

Sandy Comes To Town. October 29, 2012

As Hurricane Sandy blows in, I’ve taken precautions; we’re expecting less flooding than with last year’s Irene, but several days without power are expected.

I have candles and matches set up around the house as well as flashlights, battery-powered wall lights, and a headlamp with new power cells. I have a bathtub full of water for flushing the toilet, and five gallons of potable water in jugs. I cooked a big pot of pasta and have several jars of sauce on hand, as well as bread, hummus and cooked shrimp.

Our little generator is in place, with five gallons of gas at the ready; extension cords are in place to power the cellar freezer and sump pumps (flooding two years ago was an expensive disaster) and the fridge and microwave upstairs.

There’s wood on the porch for the kitchen wood stove, as without power, the oil furnace is inoperable.

And the yard has been tidied up, with all of the summer niceties hustled into the barn.

That left only the radio to attend to; it takes six D-cells when it isn’t plugged into a working outlet. And don’tcha know, I only had two.

So this mid-day, I set out to get D-cells. I hit the local hardware store – nope. I drove the half hour into Greenfield and tried several supermarkets, Radio Shack and Home Depot. Nope.

“We’ve been outta those  since Saturday!” was a common response to my queries.

I drove another half hour to Northampton, hit hardware stores, another Home Depot and *gag* Wal-Mart. Nope, nope, nope.

Finally, across the river in Hadley, I checked at Sam’s Outdoor Outfitters…

Yup!   🙂  Gotta love those outdoor stores – their smaller clientele means the wider public doesn’t go there for their basic needs.

So now I have food, light, heat and a way of knowing what’s happening in the World Out There.

On the way home I saw the first of the damage; a huge white pine had fallen on the Olde Willow Motor Court just down the road from our house:

They’d trimmed up a lot of the damage by the time I got this shot; the roof has more holes than Albert Hall, if you know what I mean.

This was heart breaking to see – their restaurant was inundated by Irene just a year ago, and these little Mom and Pop businesses really hurt when bad things happen.

At home, I took advantage of a lull in the rain to bring the compost out to the garden, and was rewarded with the sight of a big tree just uphill of the house exploding in the wind and crashing to earth.

I’m going to hunker down by the wood stove and process photos as long as the internet works. If you don’t hear from me for a few days, it quit, but don’t worry, I’m most likely good.

You take care as well, and be safe.

UPDATE: I’m fine here, no real problems after all that preparation! Thanks to all who expressed their concern.