It is bad.

Right about now , all those who were complaining about media hype of an approaching storm are sitting in darkened living rooms, with a decided chill , eating cold beans from a can trying to figure out if they can drive the nearly empty car to an open gas station to wait in a long line for fuel, before heading over to the food store to see if thye will be getting any milk or bread today.

Don't ever not listen to the hype again.  When they said it was going to be bad , they knew what they were talking about.  I have mentioned before the 6 days of no heat, lights, warmth that my family went through in March 2010.  It lost its luster after 24 hours.  I feel for those who will endure the same this time.

.  I was ready on Monday night as I stepped outside with the dog and saw the lightning like flashes of transformers exploding in the distance and the reflecting light from arcing hot wires dropping into the streets.  It was an ominous light show and I fully expected to be without power before the night was over.  Imagine my surprise on Tuesday when I awakened and found that I could brew a pot of coffee and although the television was not working the lights were.

I prepare for these episodes, I have a full tank of gas in all the cars, the propane tanks are full, camp stoves are brought up from the basement, batteries and flashlights , first aid kits, dog food , canned goods  are always in stock.  There is also redundancy, I have a couple of camp stoves, camp lannterns and they have never seen a camp ground.


This time we have no need. Our house has power as do several of my neig, inexplicably we are like an island of light in a sea of blackness come nightfall.  I am trully thankful and even that gratitude comes with a pang of guilt at our good fortune, for I see many others who are in bad straits.

 I will set up a charging station on my front porch for cell phones and I Pods.  I will return to my mother in laws today to check on her and insist that she come out with me to our home, away from her rapidly cooling abode.  I tried for a few hours yesterday to convince her that power is likely to be out for a week or more.  She in her locked in thinking can't imagine that the power won't be on immediately, she thinks that order will be restored in a few hours----seeing the amount of damage, I think not.

I awakened my son , told him to call  to his job where they sell firewood and propane as otheres may not be able to get there and although he is not scheduled to work today , perhaps he can help out.

A local cop was most likely paralyzed when a huge tree crushed his police cruiser, homes along the shore are literally gone. Workplaces are wiped out.  It was a storm that lived up to the predictions, I hope we never forget that the next time out.  There is no boy crying wolf in the weather world from this day forward.  It was bad, and now it is over.