Little House in the Colonies

Some Minor Tree Damage

This must be what it was like back when the colonists first shared the table with Native Americans. Cooking on the barbeque, melting snow to flush the toilet, waiting in line for gasoline to power the generator, boiling water to wash dishes and body parts, and not having telephone or internet service or vacuum cleaners or battery chargers.

People are dying all over our state from carbon monoxide from running generators in their basements or garages instead of outdoors. When everything from cigarettes to plastic bags have warnings printed on them, you would think that generators would be plastered with big letters warning: “For Outdoor Use Only – Carbon Monoxide Emissions Will Cause DEATH If Used Indoors”.

Our Little House Generator

Water,

Water, Everywhere

Kerosene Lamp

Connecting The Essentials To Electricity

Gasoline To Run The Generator -
Part Of The Cause Of Global Warming -
That Got Us Into This Mess

Leon and I are about as prepared as possible. We put up over 80 gallons of water in large bins and coolers, we have a small generator to alternately run the fridge and a small heater as well as the TV and a couple of lights;, we have a gas/propane stove so we can cook and heat water, and we have a small vent free gas heater in our basement. The only thing we miss is running water, especially running HOT water, as the well pump requires electricity and even though the hot water and heat are oil, both require electricity to function.

We’ve had hot showers at our friends’ house across town - they have been fortunate not to lose power. People who have no generators, and are completely dependent on electricity are much worse off than we are. Especially in view of the fact that overnight temperatures have been more like January than early November.

For a country so dependent on electricity and electronic communications, it is ludicrous to have power lines that are so vulnerable to Mother Nature’s terrorism. Imagine how easy it would be for nefarious groups to purposely wreck similar havoc.

Here in the Northeast we have a slew of uncharacteristic weather events this year alone. Some fairly destructive tornados, a hurricane, unprecedented floods and destruction, now a freak snow storm with an aftermath that has nearly shut down normal day to day activities, not to mention that rare earthquake that shook DC.

Cars are lined up for a quarter mile each way at gas stations that are still able to pump gas, grocery stores, post offices, restaurants, schools and pharmacies are all closed due to power outages. Predictions are that power may be restored by Sunday, November 6. That will be eight days, if they are serious about the time frame.

The rest of the cleanup could take weeks, months, even.  There are some millions of cubic yards of debris to haul away and dispose of.  Spoiled food, lost wages and revenue, cleanup expenses.  This seems to be happening more often all over the country and where does the money come from to pay for the recovery efforts?  FEMA?  The government? Taxes - probably, but on the poor guy, not on the wealthy, of course.

I'm in Panera's parking lot accessing wifi; will post without pics first, then try to add some photos if I can.  Success there I think.  And I didn't even have to buy a coffee!