“All things are difficult before they are easy.” – Dr. Thomas Fuller, 1732
Tuesday, November 01, 2011
The Big Snow
It doesn’t have a name like “Irene”, but the Big Snow of October, 2011 deserves one and I can’t put it on this blog and keep it family-friendly. The Big Snow actually happened while we were away on a couple of days of vacation in New Mexico. We came home the day after the Big Snow, and had no problems with flights or getting to the house.
But, we came home to a massive power failure. By the time we got home the electricity had been off for almost 24 hours. There was 15 or so inches of snow on the ground. Trees were down everywhere.
The first action Lynne took once we got home, to her credit, was to locate the fire extinguishers. I guess she knew that we’d be turning our kitchen into the equivalent of a bomb factory within minutes. I found the two butane camp burners we have, and I managed to create a small butane explosion within a few minutes, singeing the hair on my hands. And, I carefully filled the oil lamps which could be turned over with the swish of a dog tail.
Still, we managed to successfully cook some spaghetti for dinner and lived through it.
We picked up the dogs on Monday morning and did some minimal shopping. Most shops were without electricity and closed. I learned that there are three things that sell out immediately: D-cell batteries (for flashlights and lamps, I assume), matches, and jugs of water. There may be others, but those are the ones we needed and had trouble finding.
Luckily, from our preparations for Irene, we still had about 15 gallons of fresh water stored and had located lamps, lanterns and flashlights as well as candles. The only thing we had used up was the Gentleman Jack.
Water is an issue. We need water to occasionally flush the toilets, and for drinking, cooking and cleanup. We did manage to buy about 8 gallons of fresh water and we are melting snow into buckets, so we should be good for a few days.
It is cold in the house, but we have a nice fire going continuously in the wood stove and we have a kettle of water on top of it for hot water. Sleeping under a double layer of covers and next to a dog and cat helps us keep warm at night.
Of course, living without electricity is a pain. We have to manually open the garage doors, there is no heat, no light, etc. And, we had to buy a percolator for coffee as well as ground coffee (we usually grind beans).
Thanks to those of you who have inquired about us. We are surviving. It took a while this morning, but I did make it to work where it is warm, I can recharge the mobile appliances, and I even was able to take a nice hot shower (poor Lynne.)
We are expected to have electricity between Wednesday and Friday. We can see the down line on the street below the house (but, that might not be the only one.)
Lynne has photos on her site.
Posted under: New Jersey • Stuff You Gotta Know! • by Rick on 11/01/2011 at 10:38 AM
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Sunday, August 28, 2011
After Irene
Who would have thought that we’d be dealing with earthquakes and hurricanes when we moved to New Jersey? After a brief rumble last week that I felt at work, this weekend we dealt with Irene.
On Friday we had a great time at the Duchess County (NY) fair. I’m sure blog posts from both Lynne and me are coming. It was a sunny, warm, beautiful day.
Then on Saturday night, Irene powered through. We are in the “mountains” and a bit away from the coast, so did not have to worry about the flooding and storm surge. But, we got a lot of rain, about 7 inches during the storm (on already rain-soaked ground), and we’ve had a lot of wind. The big problem here is trees that blow down and take electric lines with them.
But, we had only a few brief electrical outages. No trees down (that we know of). And, other than dogs with cabin fever, we are in good shape.
Thanks to those of you who have called to ask about our situation—we are fine. Getting to work tomorrow, given the flood-prone regions I have to drive through, may be interesting. But, all is well and we are now preparing for our trek to Colorado for a vacation in September.
Posted under: New Jersey • by Rick on 08/28/2011 at 06:05 PM
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Friday, August 26, 2011
Hurricane Preparedness
Posted under: New Jersey • Stuff You Gotta Know! • by Rick on 08/26/2011 at 07:01 PM
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Sunday, July 24, 2011
Chinatown Food Tour
I know Lynne will blog on this topic, so I won’t go into too much detail, but yesterday (on one of the hottest days of the summer) we and a friend drove into New York City to participate in a Food and Culture Tour of Chinatown.
We’ve done a couple of these in the past - Chelsea Market just a month ago, and Greenwich Village last year. You join your tour guide and group at a designated spot, then tour the area while popping into various restaurants and shops, often sampling food.
For the Chinatown tour, we actually had the opportunity for three “sit down” snacks, which was nice because we could cool off in the air conditioning and drink lots of water.
Our first stop was a Dim Sum restaurant where we sampled 5 different dumplings.
After that, authentic Peking Duck! Yum!
And, finally some stir fried Chinese eggplant with other goodies.
We also toured several shops including a Chinese “Apothecary” and a Tea Shop.
Lynne will have a lot more detail and some great photos of Chinatown, so check out her blog too and watch for it.
We had a great time and want to thank Burt for the great tour.
Posted under: New Jersey • Stuff You Gotta Know! • by Rick on 07/24/2011 at 06:50 AM
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Saturday, July 02, 2011
Pretty, Perfect Day
Today was a great day! This morning I washed Mia to prepare for a drive. We decided to go over to Mohawk Lake at Sparta and have a slice of pizza from a great Italian place there. It was a beautiful drive with the top down. Not too hot, but sunny.
We had our slice of perfect pizza, and took a few photos at the boardwalk there.
Then, we took a long drive home through Vernon and Warwick. Once home, we swam for a while, then fired up the BBQ for baby back ribs. Lynne made her world famous (just ask Dan Ferguson) baked beans. And, some coleslaw. And, I slow cooked the ribs using my secret cooking process. Yum!
After it got a bit dark we dipped in the pool some more, listened to “Bossa and Stones”, watched the bats feed over the pool, had (another) glass of wine and ... it was perfect!
Posted under: New Jersey • Stuff You Gotta Know! • by Rick on 07/02/2011 at 08:04 PM
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