Stay Safe

[Guest guest]

With the impending war with Iraq, I just wanted to take the

opportunity to tell everyone to stay safe. I know it must be a

really tough time for those of you on the East Coast, and I'm

thinking about all of you.

Take care everyone!

Suzi

[Guest guest]

On 8/26/2011 3:45 PM, Jase4567 wrote:

>Here on the east coast we are getting ready for a storm

of possible a lifetime.

Up here it's only going to be a Category 1 and maybe even less than

that by the time it hits. And this morning there are some computer

projections that have it turning out to sea. It's all wait-and-see

but after this past winter, everyone is panicking. I can't believe

they're shutting down Broadway shows in Manhattan for both today and

tomorrow (drizzles this morning, steady rain & wind this

afternoon, heavier at night). All trains and buses are stopping at

noon today, too.

We spent most of yesterday getting my husband's aunt settled in the

nursing home (finally!) and at 3:30 when we finally got home I

suggested we hit the grocery store for our weekly order because

obviously Sunday, our usual day, was out. The crowds!! The empty

shelves!! The chaos!! And of course we only got one aisle when the

nursing home phoned to tell my husband he filled one paper out

wrong, even after going over it line by line with the guy in the

office for over a half hour to make sure everything was right. So he

ran off and left me at the store alone to fight my way through.

Luckily I took so long I was still on line when he got back. The

only thing on my list they *didn't* have were some canned mac and

cheese I was going to grab for my son, just in case the gas goes off

and he can't make his regular mac & cheese. All the canned and

other cruddy processed foods were gone from the shelves, but the

healthy ones, like canned beans, natural peanut butter, whole grain

breads, produce (except for bananas. For some reason there was a run

on bananas) both fresh and frozen - there were plenty of. Earlier

this year I bought a book on how to make healthy meals under extreme

conditions, such as a power failure or camping, so I'm all set. We

even keep our flashlights (2 per room) all set and have at least a

dozen extra batteries in every size as a normal thing in case of

emergencies so we don't have to fight our neighbors for the last

package of D's in the store in the days before a storm, like now.

Listening to these war stories in the store while on line yesterday,

all I could do was shake my head in disbelief. Major hardware stores

like Home Depot and Lowe's were all out of batteries and flashlights

by Wednesday. One of the grocery stores shut its doors at 7am

yesterday, they were out of most foods and weren't expecting another

delivery until today. We drove past there on the way home and people

were lined up, waiting for the store to reopen after the trucks

come. Many mom and pop stores already had signs that they wouldn't

be open today, and our mayor, playing with his new automated phone

system that dials every phone number in the city, urged ALL

businesses to stay closed today, to not use your car, stay off the

streets, and he initiated orders for the mandatory evacuation of all

homes and businesses of 4 blocks all around this quarter mile wide

peninsula city, telling people to go to 4 of the city's schools that

are going to be open as shelters, to start arriving this afternoon

and to "bring a light snack", as if that is going to hold people for

Saturday dinner, all 3 meals Sunday, and Monday breakfast.

Our landlord is out of the country right now, and of course he has a

deck full of furniture and other little things that could fly around

in a windy storm. And of course his garage door is locked. Thursday

morning my son and I moved what we could down into the basement (at

least he left *that* unlocked in case of emergency), but some

things, like a wrought iron & tile table and an 6-foot long park

bench and his gas grill, we didn't, because I think they're heavy

enough to not be blown away and besides not having room down the

basement they wouldn't fit through the narrow doorway. We also had

to go over his aunt's property to make sure there was nothing to

blow around there while getting her ready for the ambulance to take

her to the nursing home. It's been a crazy 2 days, and only bound to

get crazier as the storm gets closer.

>Bigger than Gloria in 85.

Let's see, I had a 1-year old toddler running around the house for

that one, and aside from the wind and rain and some houses losing a

few roofing tiles, nothing much happened around here. As the eye

went over I get *really* dizzy, thanks to my ear problems, but

within a half hour I was fine. The baby slept through that part. We

weren't in NJ when Floyd came through back in 1999, and I remember a

number of others that just brushed by. In fact, I remember having a

lot more hurricane activity around here when I was a kid, and our

moms allowed us to stay outside and play in them in our bathing

suits until the winds got too strong.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_New_Jersey_hurricanes#1950.E2.80.931979

Hmm, reading this article it seems like we had a lot of storms but

of light intensity for the most part. No wonder we were allowed to

play outside during them. If we're lucky, Irene will turn out to sea

and just brush by without much wind or rain like most of those, but

if not, well, all I can say is Good Luck & Keep Dry, everyone,

and see you on the flip side.

Sue in NJ