Until it does. The October snow storm has left 600,000 people in Massachusetts without power. A lot of these people are still in recovery from Irene. The odd thing is that the power is not out up here in the hilltowns. It’s down in the cities, Northampton, Westfield, Springfield, along with the small, bedroom communities. We got a lot of snow, over 24 inches in my backyard, but I think we were in better shape because our leaves had already fallen so we didn’t have the branches down that the valley saw.
The news show pictures of people waiting in long lines to get gas at the few open station. Interviews with people who are stranded in homes with no heat, no water and no food have a common theme. “We didn’t expect it to happen here. Who knew? We just weren’t prepared because these things just don’t happen here.” Until they do. Fortunately, Nate and Amanda and their kids made it through the canopy of downed power lines and broken branches and are here for the duration.
I got a lot of the carrots, all the cabbage and the broccoli harvested before the storm hit but I still have more carrots and beets and all the turnips still in the ground. I hope the snow insulates the ground from the frigid temperatures.
I had a very nice incident yesterday. Last week, when we cleaned out the Community House basement in preparation for the move of the sewing center, I put a bag of charcoal in my car. Now I didn’t need the charcoal but I couldn’t see throwing it in the dumpster and nobody else would take it. So yesterday, I took Karen to the Creamery for work and there was man there looking for charcoal as he had no way to cook but a Hibachi. I was able to give him the charcoal, saving him some money and putting the fuel to good use. I did not point out that HE SHOULD HAVE THOUGHT OF THIS WHEN HE SAW THE FORECAST!!!! There. Rant over.
One of the good things that happened with having my kids here as a captive audience is that I had an opportunity to talk with them about what the future may look like and what steps they could take to insulate themselves from the worst dislocation. It’s a conversation we’ve had before but it has more impact when you can’t be home because you can’t heat it and can’t cook.
Hope you all stayed safe and warm. Let us know how you fared.
October 31, 2011 at 8:23 am
So glad to hear you’re doing well!
October 31, 2011 at 8:31 am
we got the 24″ here too, but didn’t loose power. I think, like you, because we had just lost the leaves. Also, they did a lot of tree trimming after Irene. When hubby was coming home from Boston, he saw so many people just standing around at gas stations, as if they’d start working ifthey stood there long enough!
Snow in the fall (yes, at Halloween) IS not unheard of in New England, people should be better prepared!
October 31, 2011 at 11:22 am
kathy, could you email me please? I need to ask you about something? jenna at itsafarwalk dot com
October 31, 2011 at 12:38 pm
Glad to know you and yours are warm, safe, and fed. Hopefully the storm will be a wake up call for folks affected, especially those who were still recovering from Irene.
We’re too far west to have been affected by this storm, but realized today that the furnace isn’t working. Thank goodness for the wood stove! Now we can wait until an experienced friend comes to help diagnose the furnace, rather than have to layout $300 or so to have a technician come and sell us overpriced parts.
No snow to speak of here, yet, but we’re waiting for the other shoe to drop.
October 31, 2011 at 1:24 pm
Glad to hear you are ok, started reading your blog over the past while and really enjoying it. I am always surprised to hear just how unprepared folks are, but on the last good storm with a couple day power outage, instead of staying home like we normally do, we headed to our local town just to “see” and yes, folks standing in line to get into the grocery store amazed me, plus they opened a place for folks to go if needed..
We live in a area tha gets ice storms along with snow storms and at least four to eight power outs yearly ranging from a day to three to five but have lasted in the past ten years up to a couple weeks.. so everyone living here should be thinking.. it can happen here..
October 31, 2011 at 2:24 pm
The big irony at my house…we couldn’t get to the propane stove out in the shed because a limb had downed a power line right in front of the door! But otherwise prepping helped. Getting that power line off my husband’s car would help, too, but not yet…the crews are straight out and half the town is at the high school for emergency shelter. Glad we had wood for the fireplace!
October 31, 2011 at 4:51 pm
Good to hear you were ready for the “whatever”. We do not have snow but it is a good reminder to get the gas generator changed to propane. We live with underground power which helps in storms. My husband is refuses to have trees around the house. We had that in the past and the problems that went with them.
Diana, I hope they can quickly get that power line off your husband’s car and away from your shed!
November 1, 2011 at 11:36 am
No snow here yet (NW Montana) but the weather guys are calling for another La Nina winter which translates to lots of wet, cold, snowy days ahead for us. I don’t mind the record breaking snow fall but the downstream flooding is so unpredictable and devastating that I’m really anticipating next spring with dread.
November 1, 2011 at 11:31 pm
Perhaps he didn’t need to get charcoal ahead of time because he could sense serendipity would provide for him? Just kidding, but glad that it worked out — cooking source for him, waste not for you.
November 2, 2011 at 2:52 am
Glad you’re ok- I have been thinking of you all when we got the weather news from the states. It’s been an exceptionally mild autumn for us in the UK (warmest October ever) but snow is predicted for sometime this month. And it will still take everybody by surprise…
November 3, 2011 at 11:57 am
Although we have internet, television and phone service as of this morning, we’re still relying on the generator for the rest of the house. We did relatively well as our generator can run the entire house(except dryer) via a transfer case we had installed last year. Thus, we had running water while our neighbors did not. So…we doled out water, at least for coffee, but they had to either melt snow or get into town and obtain water to flush their toilets. Some had to travel out of town to take showers at relatives’ homes.
Not many had gas or water stored and as a result they had to wait in endless lines for both. Some big stores shut down while others were cleaned out of water. Thank goodness we prepared for this day. We did run out today and purchased 4 more gas containers to bring us up to 55 gallons we can store as well as an additional 3 5-gallon containers for water. This, on top of the ones we have as well as two 55 gallon drums.
I hope those who went without during this event will get with the program and start preparing. I suspect that all that bottled water put a serious dent in peoples’ finances that could have been avoided.
November 4, 2011 at 2:29 pm
We had 12″ in South Amherst and lost power about 8:30 Saturday evening. Some places in Amherst (like my brother’s condo) had power back by 4 PM Sunday. I got mine back on at about 3 PM yesterday! Just short of 5 days. But you know? We did fine. I have piped natural gas for my range, though of course the electric igniters didn’t work. And though I haven’t been able to get wood delivered here for the cookstove, I had enough to keep us warm, heat water for dishwashing, and to roast the chickens that were in the fridge – then invited the neighbors over for dinner
No damage to the house or barn, thank goodness. Lost three large oak limbs into the driveway, which my neighbor cut up enough to move out of the way. All is well, and I’m glad you’re safe and well!