Hurricane Sandy...
...or as we know it in the Sharma household, the birthday celebration for Thor God of Thunder (aka Gore Fod of Funder).
A whopper of a storm came through over the past 36 hours, Hurricane Sandy. Sandy was accompanied by her friend the (full) Harvest Moon, a mid-west snowstorm, and an arctic wind. The result is that Manhattan was utterly shut down (no entry or exit possible, all mass transit shut down, no power), Atlantic City was shut down, the Garden State Parkway was closed for all points south of Woodbridge, all Connecticut highways are closed, there's insane flooding everywhere, more than 8 million people in the northeast are without power, and we know darned well that this means a whole lotta damage (cars, trees, homes, etc.). Can you say cha-ching?
Fortunately we came through relatively unscathed, for which I am extremely grateful.
We knew this was coming, and while this was the annual "Aunt Invasion" weekend (when my father and his two sisters come into town, and we meet in the city for a night out) we sent Grandpa Buzzy home a day early so he could get home before the storm hit. And amazingly both my aunts got on their flights without issue (Barb caught an early flight, and I think Jo may well have been on the last flight to Houston before they closed things down).
Last night was quite an event, though. By far the worst natural event that Hari or I have ever experienced. We were as prepared as we could be, keeping our cell phones (and the iPad and iTouch and computer) plugged in all day so they'd be fully charged if/when the power went out. When the rain eased up a bit I took Syd for quick walks knowing at some point we weren't going to be able to take her out. We turned our fridge and freezer to the coldest setting so we would have the best chance of food not spoiling if we lost power, and served only foods that would go bad and/or required cooking all day. And earlier in the week I bought 4 cases of water and a bunch of food that didn't require cooking along with boxed milk for the boys and extra batteries for our one radio and our flashlight.
I also started the propaganda well before the storm came. I told Colin that on Sunday night Thor God of Thunder was going to have a big party. A really big party! So last night when the storm really hit we were as prepared as we could be. I had the boys in their pajamas, teeth brushed, and we all went into the boy's room to watch the storm going by. The pool cover kept moving as if it was a giant trampoline, the trees were blowing all around, and we heard a giant WHUMP! as our grill blew over. There was an amazing show with the most prolonged lightning I've ever seen. It wasn't lightning strikes, per se, but more like an area of the sky would light up for 2-3 seconds.
Ryan was utterly unaffected, Colin seemed OK, and poor Syd was clearly scared so we broke a cardinal rule and let her up on the bed where she happily curled up with us. As the storm continued to rage Colin did get a little scared, but I told him that it was OK, it was just Thor's party. Why was he scared of a little wind and some rain? Colin thankfully took my lead, and started talking about how Thor had a big cake, and then decided it was Thor's birthday party. Then the power went out. It had been on and off all day (mostly on, thankfully) but this was different. We were looking outside and suddenly everything went dark. Really dark. We could see flashlights in some of the houses as people were moving around, and things just had a different tone. Hari was quietly encouraging the power to come back on, saying "c'mon! fight through... come back on!" but to no avail. That was it.
Colin started get a little freaked out, even though it is normal for things to be dark at night, but he somehow knew it was different. I reminded him it was just Thor's party, and he again said it was his birthday so to take some of the edge off things we sang a rendition of Happy Birthday to Thor. Yes, a bit strange, but it kinda worked.
A few minutes later we brought everyone into our room, and tried to get the boys to sleep (Syd immediately dove under our bed, her "safe" spot). Ryan went to sleep pretty quickly but Colin was clearly scared. We heard another big noise, and Hari went to investigate which made Colin extremely upset (he clearly wanted us all together). Hari came back and got into bed, sending a few texts (checking up on people) before putting his phone away and wrapping his arms around Colin who finally quieted. I snuggled in with both boys, watching Sandy's light show as Hari went downstairs. Eventually both boys dozed off while I continued to watch the storm, and perhaps dozed for a bit.
I woke up to the sound of Hari's voice, and found him downstairs talking to a friend. I had lit a few candles on the dining room table, and the flickering light was still lending just a bit of light to the room. He eventually got off the phone (not long after Ryan woke up, of course), and prepared to head outside. He was going to turn his car on (needed to charge his phone!) and poor Syd couldn't wait any longer. He got as prepared as possible which including wearing his bike helmet... just in case there was any flying debris. And while he looked a little silly I felt better knowing his noggin had some protection as he headed out into the storm. Ryan and I waited and thankfully they both made it back safe and sound (although quite wet!).
I took Ryan up and turned in, and Hari went and sat in the car for a bit while his phone finished charging. He came up and we all somehow dozed while Sandy raged outside. And around 6AM we had an amazing surprise... the power came back on. Lights blaring in the bathroom and downstairs, beeps as phones and other electronics came back online. HOORAY!!!!
I tried logging into work to check email, but the power was still down there so I couldn't connect. Our power has been on and off today (mostly on, thankfully, but intermittent outages so we keep wondering if we're going to lose it again for good), and our cell service is down (we can connect to internet, but can't make any calls). We took a walk around the development and it seems like we all fared pretty well. There are some trees down, loose gutters and some siding is missing, a broken window on one house, but relatively speaking we were all very lucky.
So... our second hurricane (Irene last year was our first) and we're still here to tell the tale. Although frankly if I'm going to have to deal with annual hurricanes I'm thinking we should move to Florida and get the benefit of great weather year 'round! In the meantime I'm just glad that we seem to have avoided the worst of the storm. Hope you all fared as well.
A whopper of a storm came through over the past 36 hours, Hurricane Sandy. Sandy was accompanied by her friend the (full) Harvest Moon, a mid-west snowstorm, and an arctic wind. The result is that Manhattan was utterly shut down (no entry or exit possible, all mass transit shut down, no power), Atlantic City was shut down, the Garden State Parkway was closed for all points south of Woodbridge, all Connecticut highways are closed, there's insane flooding everywhere, more than 8 million people in the northeast are without power, and we know darned well that this means a whole lotta damage (cars, trees, homes, etc.). Can you say cha-ching?
Fortunately we came through relatively unscathed, for which I am extremely grateful.
We knew this was coming, and while this was the annual "Aunt Invasion" weekend (when my father and his two sisters come into town, and we meet in the city for a night out) we sent Grandpa Buzzy home a day early so he could get home before the storm hit. And amazingly both my aunts got on their flights without issue (Barb caught an early flight, and I think Jo may well have been on the last flight to Houston before they closed things down).
Last night was quite an event, though. By far the worst natural event that Hari or I have ever experienced. We were as prepared as we could be, keeping our cell phones (and the iPad and iTouch and computer) plugged in all day so they'd be fully charged if/when the power went out. When the rain eased up a bit I took Syd for quick walks knowing at some point we weren't going to be able to take her out. We turned our fridge and freezer to the coldest setting so we would have the best chance of food not spoiling if we lost power, and served only foods that would go bad and/or required cooking all day. And earlier in the week I bought 4 cases of water and a bunch of food that didn't require cooking along with boxed milk for the boys and extra batteries for our one radio and our flashlight.
I also started the propaganda well before the storm came. I told Colin that on Sunday night Thor God of Thunder was going to have a big party. A really big party! So last night when the storm really hit we were as prepared as we could be. I had the boys in their pajamas, teeth brushed, and we all went into the boy's room to watch the storm going by. The pool cover kept moving as if it was a giant trampoline, the trees were blowing all around, and we heard a giant WHUMP! as our grill blew over. There was an amazing show with the most prolonged lightning I've ever seen. It wasn't lightning strikes, per se, but more like an area of the sky would light up for 2-3 seconds.
Ryan was utterly unaffected, Colin seemed OK, and poor Syd was clearly scared so we broke a cardinal rule and let her up on the bed where she happily curled up with us. As the storm continued to rage Colin did get a little scared, but I told him that it was OK, it was just Thor's party. Why was he scared of a little wind and some rain? Colin thankfully took my lead, and started talking about how Thor had a big cake, and then decided it was Thor's birthday party. Then the power went out. It had been on and off all day (mostly on, thankfully) but this was different. We were looking outside and suddenly everything went dark. Really dark. We could see flashlights in some of the houses as people were moving around, and things just had a different tone. Hari was quietly encouraging the power to come back on, saying "c'mon! fight through... come back on!" but to no avail. That was it.
Colin started get a little freaked out, even though it is normal for things to be dark at night, but he somehow knew it was different. I reminded him it was just Thor's party, and he again said it was his birthday so to take some of the edge off things we sang a rendition of Happy Birthday to Thor. Yes, a bit strange, but it kinda worked.
A few minutes later we brought everyone into our room, and tried to get the boys to sleep (Syd immediately dove under our bed, her "safe" spot). Ryan went to sleep pretty quickly but Colin was clearly scared. We heard another big noise, and Hari went to investigate which made Colin extremely upset (he clearly wanted us all together). Hari came back and got into bed, sending a few texts (checking up on people) before putting his phone away and wrapping his arms around Colin who finally quieted. I snuggled in with both boys, watching Sandy's light show as Hari went downstairs. Eventually both boys dozed off while I continued to watch the storm, and perhaps dozed for a bit.
I woke up to the sound of Hari's voice, and found him downstairs talking to a friend. I had lit a few candles on the dining room table, and the flickering light was still lending just a bit of light to the room. He eventually got off the phone (not long after Ryan woke up, of course), and prepared to head outside. He was going to turn his car on (needed to charge his phone!) and poor Syd couldn't wait any longer. He got as prepared as possible which including wearing his bike helmet... just in case there was any flying debris. And while he looked a little silly I felt better knowing his noggin had some protection as he headed out into the storm. Ryan and I waited and thankfully they both made it back safe and sound (although quite wet!).
I took Ryan up and turned in, and Hari went and sat in the car for a bit while his phone finished charging. He came up and we all somehow dozed while Sandy raged outside. And around 6AM we had an amazing surprise... the power came back on. Lights blaring in the bathroom and downstairs, beeps as phones and other electronics came back online. HOORAY!!!!
I tried logging into work to check email, but the power was still down there so I couldn't connect. Our power has been on and off today (mostly on, thankfully, but intermittent outages so we keep wondering if we're going to lose it again for good), and our cell service is down (we can connect to internet, but can't make any calls). We took a walk around the development and it seems like we all fared pretty well. There are some trees down, loose gutters and some siding is missing, a broken window on one house, but relatively speaking we were all very lucky.
So... our second hurricane (Irene last year was our first) and we're still here to tell the tale. Although frankly if I'm going to have to deal with annual hurricanes I'm thinking we should move to Florida and get the benefit of great weather year 'round! In the meantime I'm just glad that we seem to have avoided the worst of the storm. Hope you all fared as well.
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