Frankenstorm: Afterwards

We are still definitely in storm mode here.  The sound of chainsaws can be heard up and down the street, as well as the duller groan of construction vehicles dealing with downed trees and powerlines.  No street was spared, though as a town we seem luckier than many, as far as power outages go.  Most of my friends have power, save a few, and I've heard from most of them; even the ones without power have been active on FB, no doubt from their smartphones.  How did we handle the hurricanes of my youth without smartphones?  I guess you were friends with your immediate neighbors mostly.  I haven't heard from Shellley and hope they are safe--how are you?  You are welcome here if you need power, etc.  I also haven't heard from my friend on the Lower East Side or my friend in NJ.  I hope both are safe.

We still have power and telephone.  But no school for the rest of the week!  And no trick or treating until next week.  The kids are loving my lifting of the no-screentime-on-weekdays rule, because, of course, these aren't school days!  They've watched Pokemon, Ninjago, and the Lego spoof, "The Empire Strikes Out," and are now playing DS.  I haven't been watching tv, though understand my parents were glued to it to keep tabs on us.  I've been getting my news from the NYTimes--the devastation is overwhelming.  CT's own news source, the CTPost, is disappointing in its coverage and not really even worth checking.  My local Patch has better news and even the NYTimes has CT updates.

We went on an adventure earlier today, to the local stores, realizing that if shipments don't get through the stores could run out of staples.  Of course, we also ate, in advance, all of our perishables and needed eggs, milk, and soymilk.  The first store was on generator power and pretty dark, but still open; however, they had to toss all of their perishables.  The kids got some Pokemon cards and I picked up extra pasta, sauce, macaroni and cheese, and canned soup.  Then we headed to another store, also on generator--but their generator must have been stronger because their perishables were still cold and okay.  We got milk, soymilk, eggs, cheese, ground turkey, and a few other things.  We delivered some eggs to a friend afterwards and were able to see how so many trees and powerlines were down.  No wonder there's no school or trick or treating.

I'll post later about our experience of the storm and some new tips I've picked up, also about my in-laws, whose neighborhood in the Rockaways was hit hard.  Their house was spared the fires but not the water, which has completely decimated the basement and their cars, as far as we can tell.  Still they were lucky--the house at the end of the street, just eight houses away, was washed out to sea.  It must have been terrifying.  I know Mama and her brother Goo were worried sick about them. They left the area last night to stay with Goo and went back today temporarily.  It'll be a long recovery, I think.

We continue to send our thoughts and prayers to those affected by the storm.