Over the last couple of months it seems that someone–Mother Nature? Sam Champion? God?–decided to relocate the weather nexus of where all bad things happen (Hurricane? Check. Earthquake? Check. Freak snow storms in October? Check) to the state of New Jersey.
This week has been like a bad deja vu of Hurricane Irene: Food going bad in the fridge, power going out for days, children attacking each other because they’re bored and we just let them because we’re too tired and confused to stop the madness. But this time it has been worse because the storm hit before Halloween (parades canceled, parties postponed, trick or treating in the slush), it’s cold outside, and snow on tree limbs still covered with leaves is just not supposed to happen. The streets and yards of local towns look like a slaughter at a woodshop (the photo above is our backyard, normally we don’t have a forest there). Limbs dangling from wires, sheared branches dangling overhead that could fall on top of you with the slightest breeze (a friend of mine calls these “widow makers”), trees shredded and lying on lawns, cars crushed. What on earth is going on, Sam Champion!?!?
We at least have power again (yeah!) and now that I’m washed and have spent a couple of nights sleeping without having to wear multiple layers of fleece to stay warm, there are a few things I’ve learned from this latest natural disaster that I want to share:
-Buy a head lamp for every member of your family. This might be really the only piece of information you need. Headlamps are dorky but they are awesome. I wore this one (it was actually Belle’s but I stole it from her) every night:
You need this thing in your life. When your house is pitch black and you need your hands free for making a fire in the fireplace, taking your contacts out in the dark, opening a bottle of whisky…it makes all the difference (this is not a product placement).
-Accept offers of assistance (showers, dinner, laundry) when offered because you need it and people really do like to help (a big thank you to all of our friends and neighbors who took care of us!); and make sure to do the same when you’re the lucky duck with the power still on. It always feels nice to hear someone check up on you and vice versa.
-Don’t go out and buy a selection of fancy cheeses the day before a predicted storm hits if you live in an area where power goes out on a regular basis. It has taken me two times to learn this the hard way.
-Make sure you have a battery powered radio. I fell in love with radio all over again these last few days.
-Make something delicious and unfussy like a pumpkin bread (I did) before disaster strikes so your family will have something comforting to snack on when they’re sitting around, wrapped in three sweatshirts and a down comforter, coming to grips with the fact that the only form of entertainment for the next 72 hours might be eating and doing jigsaw puzzles (I actually also read Harry Potter to the fam every night at bedtime
