Coffee Break # 86 Fall is here!

Since it's suposed to generate high winds well north of the center, New England looks vulnerable still to downed limbs and power outages. Since my three are coming home for the weekend we'll try to send them back early on sunday.

What is Parmalot?

I am terrified of what is coming. OMG! Have to find a shelter that will take FOUR cats and a crazy woman. I have today off to take Sampson for his ultrasound - going to use it to get in some water and cat litter and chocolate. The European model has this coming right over SW Connecticut. I swear, I am moving back to So. Call where there are only earthquakes and they don't torture you with advanced warnings!

settle down there memory you will be fine - half of this is only hype

all wired up here for a generator - wish i had gone out and bought one, here's to hoping the lights stay on.

What should I be doing (besides taking anti-anxiety meds) to prepare for this?

If this is the same European model that planned their economy, there is nothing to worry about!

I am sure you guys have heard/read about that horrific case in Manhattan with the nanny stabbing the kids to death. Mind-boggling. This is why I gave up my career. We trust NO ONE other than immediate family. I am hoping my good friend, who is Manhattan homicide, did not have this one.

think of this as an adventure - get up early Monday and go to the beach!

Wow, how freaked out will you be on Dec 20th, Mem?!! ;)

You remember what Irene did last year? Houses & covered bridges floating down rivers. Total cities & neighborhoods flooded. Well I hate to say it but if you never have been in a hurricane you dont know what you have missed.

Better to be prepared as its possible you might not move for 2 weeks or more.

Victor - I am actually looking forward to Dec. 21. If the Mayas were right - I won't have to worry about healthcare or social security! Now I m off to buy some supplies and a big bag of cat litter!

Am preparing here as well....will have my Mom definitely, brother & sil if they lose power....hoping the generator is working...will start it up later today.....Memory.....the shore will certainly get hit....you need to find a shelter near you...cats will be fine...they are survivors....Victor...didn't hear about the children's murders....how awful....my great nieces have had several nannies raising them....you never know.....

heard about that this am. very sad and scary!

I am going nowhere without my cats! Just got 40 pounds of cat litter for the house and 3 pounds for the car, some piddle pads for their carriers and a big folding crate so they can stretch their legs. I might set up the crate for Meeyow and bring him inside for the storm. I put a collar on him this morning and he was so funny trying to get it off! I will only put it back on him if we have to go to a shelter. Holly is wearing a new collar, Wallingford always wears a collar with a bell so I can tell what he is up to and Sampson will get a collar when we get back from the Vets.

I know this is "Polyanna" thinking (re: silly optimism), but hurricanes have a silver lining: they come with mild temperatures. This might cause food loss, but you'll never freeze to death, or shovel snow and ice.

Check the garden for small tools, pots etc & bring them inside. Got something to read & batteries?

Hey everyone! I let my subscription lapse back in June and finally got back around to renewing! Just saying hi for now - gotta catch up later :)

Good to see you back.

Yippee!!

Victor that story about the nanny is precisely why I watch my grandkids...counting my blessings that I can...

Not looking forward to any storm let alone a possible hurricane.

how was Alaska SOJ?

Alaska was out of this world! So beautiful!!

I did not like what I heard on TV about this storm. They called it a SUPER STORM. Mark Brown former president of FEMA said "Imagine 15 feet of water coming up the Hudson River".

Not trying to freak anyone but I think we have to look at this serious.

Where in AK did you go?

Spent most of our time deep in Kenai Fjords NP and Denali NP - and on the long road between the two parks

Cool, Christina! See lots of grizzlies?

Surprisingly, we saw only one grizzly. LOTS of black bears though...and eagles...caribou...moose :)

That's a BIG moose! We saw grizzlies in Alaska but no black bears. How about wolves?

Yes, we did see a pack of wolves. Also saw lots of marine wildlife - sea otters, whales, puffins, porpoises (sp?), harbor seals, sea lions, etc. The black bears were plentiful in the Kenai Fjords NP. We stayed at a wonderful lodge in a very remote area (2 hour boat ride from nearest town) - then a mile hike from the beach to get to the lodge. There were black bears everywhere. They do a great job of keeping them wild though - they don't even associate humans with food. No food allowed in the cabins and no one was allowed to eat outside. We were really hoping to see more grizzlies in Denali. Then again, just 2 days after we got home they had their first ever recorded mauling of a tourist by a grizzly. So maybe it's not so bad that we didn't see many :)

That moose is enormous! Memory, you're a good Mom.....If I couldn't bring Suey to a shelter, I guess I'd leave her in the car & check on her every few hours...the best place for her would be in the basement with the sliding door opened so she could come & go, but there's no way to feed a dog in small amounts....she'd eat it all in 2 minutes, & croak....

Believe me if I left 10 pounds of food out - Wallingford would eat it all in 10 minutes and let the other two starve.

Nice to see you SOJ!

Went to Longwood gardens today stopped at a Target in PA to get icing for cupcakes needed for kids harvest party tomorrow night, people there with bottled water stacked in their carts, batteries getting low....was surprised since they are inland

Our Governor made decision to lower 4 northern New Jersey reservoirs to mitigate potential flooding from Hurricane Sandy starting tonight. The reservoirs that will be drawn down are the Woodcliffe Lake-Lake Tappan-Oradell Reservoir, the Charlottesburg Reservoir, the Wanaque Reservoir and the Boonton Reservoir.

Here ya go Memory, items you should have in emergency kit
Battery powered radion
A corded telephone (cordless phones will not work if the power is out)
Flashlights and extra fresh batteries.
A first-aid kit.
Bottled water and an adequate supply of non-perishable food.
A non-electric can opener.
Extra blankets and sleeping bags.
A list of emergency phone numbers

I would add to that list generator esp if you have a well pump

And ready to eat cats. ;)

Cell phones may or may not work. Will be spotty at best.

Forgot to fill picnic jug with water. Will do that tomorrow.

a corded phone wouldn't help us if the power is out by the cable company

That is right - my phone is VOIP, too. I've gone past panic - I think and into ostrich-head mode. Is my basement/crawl space the safest place in my house?

that's for tornados. water comes with hurricanes, you may not want to be in a basement.

bathtub works

How about the bathroom - it has no windows?

It's time to fill the freezer with water jugs. This time last year the practice at least slowed the thawing so we could eat some of the food.

We're twenty miles inland but we get high winds whenever there's a Nor'easter. Yes, this one is not supposed to be cold in the Boston area. I haven't heard what happens farther north because it's supposedly an arctic cold mass that's driving Sandy inland.

Prayers and wishes that the storm peters out and the Mid-atlantic states will not be hit with much