I'm actually a bit concerned about this storm, which is unusual for me. There's really two main concerns - the first is potentially being without electricity for days on end. We're just enough off the beaten track that if we lose power - especially if it's our own lines down - that we're going to be WAY down CL&P's list. My second concern are some of the trees on our property. It's pretty soggy around here, and combined with more rain and hurricane-level winds - that makes trees fall over. I've mentioned the tree out front before - lots of beetle damage. This level of wind might take it down. It won't fall on the house - not as long as gravity continues to work. But if it falls, it's going to take the lines off the house. There's also a tree out back with beetle damage and exposed heartwood on about 50% of the ground level trunk - I worry about that one. It's probably tall enough to reach the house, but there're a bunch of other trees between us and it.
If this thing comes screaming in the way it's supposed to, we're going to take some damage - it just remains to be seen how much.
Hopefully we don't loose the lines. Our cell service at home is... spotty. You have to go out into the driveway, face northeast, and lean to the right. Seriously. I'd prefer not to do that in the weather.
We've done what we can. Bob cleaned the gutters, we've got food that can be cooked on the camp stove, plenty of cat food, gas for the chain saw, and I'll fill the bathtub with water.
Should be interesting.
If this thing comes screaming in the way it's supposed to, we're going to take some damage - it just remains to be seen how much.
Hopefully we don't loose the lines. Our cell service at home is... spotty. You have to go out into the driveway, face northeast, and lean to the right. Seriously. I'd prefer not to do that in the weather.
We've done what we can. Bob cleaned the gutters, we've got food that can be cooked on the camp stove, plenty of cat food, gas for the chain saw, and I'll fill the bathtub with water.
Should be interesting.
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kls_eloise- kls_eloise
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I'm relieved for Char's sake (and my own; dropping your kid off for the first time at college in the path of a monster storm is NOT ideal for anyone), but worried for you guys. I know you did some clearing but still...you have some pretty big trees.
Conserve your water and stay safe. Fingers crossed that something happens to weaken the storm. *hug*
I'm sure we'll be fine. I just fret because it's what I do. :-)
We have a generator the size of a bear (it has it's own house! seriously, we have a 'generator room' off the shed...), so we always have power in the kitchen at least (it's mostly hooked up to the greenhouse but does send power into the kitchen area of the house as well.) It'll run for three days I think they told me, before refuelling. (We also have some gasoline so we'd have power for a week, I guess.)
But then, the only reason dad forked out the thousands for that was because it was a business expense, and we can't have power go out in the winter or it'll kill every single thing in the greenhouse, so it was very much a business expense. (He won't spend large amounts on non-business expenses, lol...it has to be for the greenhouse, if it's pricey.)
However, a smaller and much cheaper generator would do for *just* a house. You really only need to power one room, (the kitchen usually) and you can run extension cords for a few essentials in other rooms. (Like a light in the potty, lol. I hate going to the bathroom in pitch black! Luckily no one ever leaves the seat up...)
Anyway, if you could even cut the top off your tree? And a small generator? Seems like those things would alleviate most of your worries...
(PS: Water goes out in an outage? Why would that be? Ours doesn't...even without the generator, water works fine, though you can't get *hot* water, of course...I guess I'll ask dad, he'll probably know.)
My dad takes trees down all the time. He uses either a come-along, or a chain attached to the Jeep to encourage them in the right direction. We've only cut little trees with hand saws at this point, so I want our first power tool experiment to be well away from anything we could break. :-)
Water going out is because we're on a well - the well pump is electric. No power - no pump - no water. People on city water don't need to worry about that. Being able to flush during outages was one of the few luxuries about our apartment before the house.
A small generator has been on the "I want" list for a while. It needs to be beefy enough to run the well pump, which is a moderately heavy draw. We don't quite have the space to store it yet, but every time we clear junk out of the garage we get a little closer. There just hasn't been the money until recently, and at the moment I doubt there is one available anywhere in New England.
I'm sure we'll be fine. We'll probably have a bunch of branches/trees come down, and I wouldn't be surprised to lose power. But we'll have food and water and toilets, and while I'll be grumpy without internet, we'll manage.
Who knows - maybe that tree will make it through with flying colors.
"THAT TREE" is in your house-icon, isn't it!??
Let's hope it STILL is on Monday.