Surviving Sandy

 As I suspect most of the USA and Canada is aware, Hurricane Sandy has been sweeping through the East Coast, and yesterday was the expected contact with us. We got lucky, and only got brushed by the hurricane. Due to being up on and off all night I didn't get photos to show. So this morning I got a couple photos of the river down near our house.

Above is looking something resembling North down the river that goes by our house. Left is looking approximately South West from the same spot. This is actually the point where our river and another river meet as you can see in the left photo.  The river is definitely moving quickly, but it isn't in the kind of crazy flood conditions that it was during and after Irene last year. But that is pure luck that we didn't get hammered this time. The fact that it wasn't worth getting pictures of the driveway because it looks just like normal is because of preparation and work as much as it was due to the relatively light hit we took. I don't have a lot of time today, and I am a bit tired so this will be a condensed list.

Upon returning from the convention the Lady of the House and I were at we went down the driveway with her in the car providing light, and I raked out all of the drainage ditches along the driveway. We did this because with any major storm if the ditches overflow or are clogged the water will just make its own way, and we can't afford that. That night we also cleared as many sticks and branches away from the driveway and house as we could find. The Lady of the House also spent Monday working on that. She also cleared out the ditch behind the house.

We made sure that the snow thrower had full gas and started easily, and that the chainsaw was in good condition. We weren't sure if it would be snow or rain, and nor was anyone else until we actually made contact. We brought in 3 days of firewood, and started up a fire before the first major gusts of wind hit because due to the quirks of our wood stove lighting a fire in high winds is a pain. Finally we made sure all of the oil lamps were filled up, and matches were easy to find.

The day of, I had to go in to work, so the Lady of the House during the pre hurricane made sure everything was inside, secure, or prepared. I brought the chainsaw and an axe in with me just in case I needed them to get home. It turns out I didn't need them, but better safe than stuck behind or under a tree. And in this case, we then sat, and just waited the storm out.

During the night when I woke up and checked the fire, I also went out and checked the state of the driveway to make sure it wasn't getting to be in bad shape. It never was, so in the end, we're in good shape and got lucky. 

Best of luck to everyone South of us that got hammered, and I hope everyone is ok, or at least lands on their feet!