power's on

Hurricane Sandy came through on Monday. It got pretty windy here and we had one tree come down, but nothing fell near the house. We were well-prepared for a power outage this time, having now been through it a couple times last year. We make sure the generator's ready, have a lot of water saved for drinking, flushing toilets and washing, lamps and flashlights, batteries, emergency radio and disposable cups, napkins, plates and silverware. Everything is stored in an accessible place in the basement, and we're pretty organized with it now. The generator keeps the fridge and freezer going so we don't lose food, and can also run a couple of lights and use the stove/oven and microwave. So while it isn't easy, it's not too bad either. Our main concern is heat when the weather is cold. When we lose power we have no phone or cell phone service, no heat, and no water. Unless we can drive somewhere to get a cell signal, we're pretty cut off. It's like camping in a very fancy tent. We seem to lose power pretty often here, and I dream of having a large generator hard-wired into the house.

The most challenging thing was keeping these two monkeys occupied.

Tonight our town has a little Halloween parade where the kids walk from the center of town to the police and fire station in their costumes, get some treats, and go through a haunted house. I think we're going to do that instead of trick or treating. Celia is very excited about getting candy and I don't want her to get too much, so I think this will be a good combination of fun and some treats but not an overload.