Obligatory Sandy Post

Blessings Darlings!

Hurricane Sandy has just about finished having her way with my area now.  Howling winds, torrential rains, 5 leaks in the house, etc.  We didn't lose power, in fact very few in our county have lost power - probably because the derecho took down most of the at-risk trees at the end of June! 

Being a prepper, I didn't have to hit the store for supplies.  I did hit the stores before the storm because the Spawn wanted to make lasagna so he gave me $ and a shopping list.  Most of the other carts had one or two cases of bottled water and other supplies each. Which was a surprise .... Spawn had mentioned that when he hit Walmart for catfood the place was sold out of water.  I guess the supermarket had a new supply come in.  Cases of water being easy to spot in carts I notice them, but didn't feel the need to examine carts closely to see what else folks were getting at the last minute.  There was no run on ricotta, crushed tomatoes, mozarella, etc. 

Just because I didn't 'shop for the storm' doesn't mean that I didn't do some preparing over the weekend.  I did all the laundry - even changing linens a day early.  I filled two 2-gallon buckets with water for dishwashing if power went out.  I worked on the back log of ironing.  I made sure all the carpets were vacuumed.  All cell phones and computers were charged.  I made sure that the camping stove and some fuel were in the house, not the detached garage.  I moved all loose stuff from around the house into the garages.  I made and bagged ice and filled the freezer. The usual stuff before storms.

The leaks were surprises, even tho' all were on the windward side.  Not that I'm saying that McMansions are well built - I'm TOTALLY not saying that.  First the frame around the front door - from bad construction of the tiny ... 'not porch' over the front door. Then a leak in the garage - bad intersection of the side of house with the 'bump' on the first floor to make it a two car garage.  Then the leak by the window frame facing the wind.  Then a second leak in the garage.  THEN the leak in the foundation, soaking part of the carpeting in the finished basement, causing wet spots in the drywall, putting two book shelves full of books and software at risk ... because there wasn't proper drainage around the house - the hill drains towards the house and construction hadn't included a ditch to divert the water.

Those extra empty frosting buckets from Walmart were put to use, and I preventing more serious damage in the basement by using the carpet shampooer to suck up the water from the carpeting ... every one hour at first, then every two hours, then every 3 as the storm passed.  If we had lost power I'd have used every dang towel in the house, and possibly have pulled up the carpeting and padding to protect it.

Now that things are calmer, I'm going to haul bones out of the freezer and start some more stock.  It's gotten cold out and I want to make soup.

Frondly, Fern