Well, At Least I Know

Why the Power is Out

These pictures are from about a mile down my road. The road is actually closed, but people keep driving past the barriers, including people in tractor trailers. A car can get past the downed tree, but there is no room for a truck, and worse, no real room for a truck to turn around. I called the police to let them know the barriers were down.
G The middle picture shows another tree branch just hanging on above the wires. Bummer. When I call the power company, they have a recorded message still on that says we may not get power until Sunday.

Then I headed to the next road over only to find that all barricaded. There are several spots with downed wires there, and a nice PSE&G guy who said there was no way they could predict when the repairs would be complete, or where my road was on the list.

I took some more pictures over there:

All in all, it looks like a mess, and we don't even have any major flooding here. There are some places in the State under several feet of water.

My cousin, whose house is at the shore on Long Beach Island called to let me know all was well there. They have power and managed to escape being flooded. And they are between the ocean and the bay!  i am happy for them, and also surprised. But I think the storm took a turn inland and hit us instead, sparing the coast a lot of potential damage.

I have a generator that I'm running for several hours every day.  I had to jump start it with my car as the starter battery is dead, but it's up and running and seems to keep my refrigerator working--sort of.  I don't know if it has enough output to run the pump in the barn if I need water for the Boys, but so far, out there, so good.

Poor Tucker is restricted to the riding arena for now until the mud dries up, but that my happen pretty fast as we are having some lovely, sunny and dry weather.

My basement water is gone and while the floor is still wet, it's going to dry out quickly too. Not so at my aunt's house next door. Without power the sump pump does not work, and apparently she has several inches of water in her basement. I am charging her caretaker's cell phone right now so she will have a way to call out.

Chance was delighted to find lots of apples fallen off the tree--so many I had to collect some and put them in a bucket so he didn't get sick.  My neighbor dropped by to tell me he would clean up my fallen tree branches while I was in the hospital and also check in on the horses.

So, there is a silver lining to every cloud, I guess. At least I can generate some power here and I am getting the house cleaned as a way of keeping myself busy.

I am hoping the pool may be open so I can go for a swim and have a nice hot shower. Sponge baths in cold water are not exactly fun. I can heat the water on the stove, but somehow, that seems like a waste of gas.  Besides, what fun is a disaster if you don't suffer at least a little?