When we came back from having dinner at a friend's house tonight, our house was ablaze with lights. And not the candles that have lit up the living room for the past six days. Real lights. That meant the heat was on and the phones worked and civilization had returned.
It was extremely tough out here in New Jersey for the past week. The waters never rose up like we feared. Unlike our compatriots in Staten Island and Queens, we were spared flood waters. And unlike our compatriots all around us, a tree didn't fall through our roof. But we lost power. And it was very cold.
We made due with fire in the fireplaces. If we kept the fires stoked, we were okay in the living room, but it was bone cold in the bedrooms. Getting out of bed in a 30 degree room and without a warm coffee pot in the kitchen wasn't easy. I'm not even sure what day of the week it is.
My extended family who we usually turn to for support in trying times were also without power. My brother and sister and their families are still cold.
I have no idea what's been going on in the world beyond the one block radius of my house. My only contact with the world has been 1010 Wins radio and the rude tweets that I sent Governor Christie about the status of life around here. The gas situation is still horrific, and we're days away from that problem being solved.
The boys have held up under this extreme stress like champions. Even Ian who needs his routines handled everything swell. But when we walked into our house tonight with the lights on, he started hysterically crying with pent up frustration. We'll let him play video games for twelve hours straight tomorrow.
Thanks all for checking on us. We're fine. A little dirty and weary, but fine. More tomorrow.
Apt. 11d 
I have no idea what’s been going on in the world beyond the one block radius of my house.
Nate Silver is either gay or evil. That’s about it.
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Glad you are back!
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Glad you have power. Friend in Westchester got power this morning and the LES last night. Warwick earlier on Friday.
It’s far from over but at least you are a few steps closer. We’ve missed you.
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Glad you are back. Warm baths and video games will probably make e experience a distant memory really soon.
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Nate Silver is gay. Doybt that he is evil.
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Oh dear, your poor son, and your whole family, and extended family. 😦
I’m glad power is back, I’m sure you will soon be caught up on what’s been going on in the world and blogosphere.
Do tell us more about NJ, the gas situation, etc.
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I’m glad you guys are all ok. Poor Ian. 😦 My mom and sister are still power-less in Nassau County, but they have my other sister’s house to go to, and apparently my sister in Sloatsburg is coming down for a visit this afternoon. Spoke with my mom last night and she is in pretty good spirits.
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FYI: My sister, who’s on the road to Long Island from Rockland County, just posted: “if anyone knows anyone in the Paramus area the gas lines are much much shorter closer to my mahwah on 17 the lines in Paramus are ridiculous”
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Glad you made it through – it sounds really stressful. Hopefully the experience at least gives you some good story ideas – like what backup plans gas stations have (or don’t have) for widespread power failures.
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I’m so glad you have power again. Good on Ian for hanging tough through all of that and good on you as a family in holding together. You’re right that it’s hardly all back to normal: everyone I know in NYC and NY is still reeling.
Rooting for a quiet week ahead!
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From Catherine Johnson over at Kitchen Table Math:
“Our power situation, btw, is galling because our power survived the storm.
“Then Con Ed sent a team out to turn it off the next day.”
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Glad you are safe and warm. Poor little Ian!
We were spared in Mass, but I’m going to think a bit differently about storm prep after this.
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Hooray! you’re back! hope Ian recovers.
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“but I’m going to think a bit differently about storm prep after this.”
ME TOO!!
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We don’t have a fireplace. I’m thinking of maybe getting a gas range installed (one that isn’t enclosed so completely that you need electricity to spark the gas) so we have a source of heat for at least one room.
Maybe I just want a gas stove because they get hot quicker. I’ve been in the basement measuring and I don’t think we’d need to install much new pipe at all.
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Share your findings. My first gift guide for the year is going to have an emergency preparation theme.
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If you really want to not care about nature, you need one of these.
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I’m not boosting that particular model, just the general class of device. I’ve only seen one in action. It is a very expensive thing because in addition to the unit it has to be wired into the house electric and hooked to the gas line.
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Welcome back to the world of warmth and light.
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Thanks, Tonya!
My neighbors have that mega model. The assholes, as we shall now call them, had so much power that they had their landscape lights going. But did they ever knock on our door to see if they could lend us some milk for our coffee or charge our phones? No, they did not. I am keeping score.
We talked about that model with family last night. My dad is worried about the tank of propane and safety issues. It’s also a crap load of money. We’re thinking about the little $400 model that will power the fridge and an electric heater.
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We’ve been through several storms like this. Makes me wonder why — I don’t live in the boonies, and, I’ve experienced the same situations in at least 3 different cities, with different political systems and different power companies, and different weather.
Around here, lots of folks bought generators (like the one MH cites to) after the last big outage (which involved snow, wind, knocked down power lines, inability to transport certain supplies across the rockies), and happened over Christmas break, when people didn’t want to leave their homes. We haven’t gone that route, ’cause we’ve decided we’d rather deal by leaving if outages last longer than a few days.
So, when we remember to think about it, our emergency preparation involves full tanks of gas in the cars, some food, and water. With that, we think we can drive to somewhere with power (now, that works where we are now, because the roads generally remain passable; it’s just that the power goes out).
When we lived in areas where we could get snowed in, blankets, sleeping bags, food, water, flashlights, candles, and closing up our activities to one small room (relying on the heat of bodies). That worked in 30 degree weather, though it wouldn’t if it got even colder. Also, we didn’t do that while dealing with kids.
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The safety issues were our bar to buying the generator. We know that we’re not good at maintenance and weren’t willing to deal with worries about safety for a unit we didn’t understand. There have been safety issues with those units when random people (as opposed to homesteader/do-it-yourself types who used to buy them). The problem could be resolved (they don’t seem particularly more dangerous than furnaces and gas ranges and electrical systems) but they have to be brought into the mainstream.
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Propane? If you don’t have natural gas, it would be much more expensive because you’d need a huge tank. Since you already have a fireplace, I’d go with the small generator. As for us, I just want to be able to warm up the house a bit in a shorter outage. We’d have to flee anything longer and it shouldn’t be much of a problem since we’re in a city. Even on foot, we have places to go.
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looked at your link, MH. temporarily out of stock. no surprise.
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Welcome back Laura! Glad you are all safe and sound! Even if there are too many morons around, and the neighbors were thoughtless.
(You haven’t lived until you’ve had to have a 1000-liter water tank in your garage.)
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When I was in North Carolina and the power went out (ice storm), a large number of immigrants from Latin America died of CO poisoning. Apparently, houses in Mexico are drafty enough that you can burn charcoal in them without dying.
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I was prepared with a full tank of gas, plenty of water and plenty of food. We also have a propane camping stove. I was thinking of buying firewood and I didn’t, but it was so hot the days before the hurricane. That was probably a dumb move. I wouldn’t get a generator because I would have nowhere to store it. As the storm went on, I made sure I kept all portable computers and my cell phone charged.
I always have escape plans. I am not afraid to just leave for as many days as it takes to maintain my sanity. Next time, though, I’m going to have all the phone numbers of major hotel chains written down.
I took this thing pretty damned seriously, and I was disappointed in how many people didn’t. I remember the NWS warning for Katrina. It sounded a lot like the NWS warning for Sandy. But I was far enough north that it didn’t affect me badly.
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