We spent two days preparing for Frankenstorm.
Steve went up on the roof and cleaned out the gutters. I blew out my back cleaning out the basement. We raked the leaves off the street and piled them onto the lawn. We bought water and beer — all the essentials.
The biggest worry is the stream that runs next to our property. It's dry as a bone right now, but we're expecting white water rapids a few feet from the foundation of the house. All the swamps have been drained and filled with McManions in this area of Jersey, so the streams and rivers overflow too easily.
I'm not sure how long we'll keep power. No computers or TV might mean we'll have to play board games. Horror.
Apt. 11d 
Good luck! We’re in lockdown here in SE Mass. Couldn’t believe how long it took for higher-ups to make the decisions to close. Our local SD made the announcement first around 5:30 pm or so, hours after everyone else in the area, then within the hour, my workplace and my husband’s finally made the call. My husband is “semi-essential,” so he will be on call to work from home (he’s the web guy for the university communications office). I’m half tempted to move our cars from the driveway under the easy-to-snap-off pines and into the school’s parking lot across the street.
Now it’s time for Homeland. As long as the power doesn’t go off before Homeland ends, I’m happy.
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Thinking of you from the upper midwest. Hope your creek just flows on through.
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Every time the Weather Channel updates the path of the hurricane, it focuses more and more onto South Jersey where we are. We’re not likely to flood, but I’ve got my bedroom blinds up, keeping an eye on the old dying tree outside the window, and hoping that if it falls, it falls the other way.
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Hi Wendy, I grew up on the Gulf coast (Mobile pre-Frederick, and then south Louisiana), and my advice is to follow that temptation and move your cars to a place where trees or limbs cannot easily fall onto them, if such a place is available. Takes just a coupla minutes and could save you an awful lot of hassle.
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Good luck everybody worried about keeping the inside of the house dry.
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“I’m half tempted to move our cars from the driveway under the easy-to-snap-off pines and into the school’s parking lot across the street.”
That sounds like a really good idea.
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After an hour of Wii for the boys this morning, we’ve already broken the board games. 🙂 There’s basically very little rain here now and no wind just yet, so I feel so useless just sitting around the house. I hope we won’t lose power… Good luck for you guys. Thanks for keeping us updated. The photos of the river and creek make me very uneasy and worried about your street & house. I’m sure you’ll document the “after” for us too. I hope your back feels better soon.
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