Hurricane Sandy, the Aftermath

I've been thinking a lot about this.  When Hurricane Sandy was approaching and we didn't know where she was going to hit, there was a lot of nervous joking.  A lot of references to "Deathicane Sandy" and "Hurricane Sandybags" (referring to the sandbags we hauled home and stacked out back).  You know the kind of joking--borne of "oh, hell, we don't have flood insurance" and "what if the power goes out for weeks?" fears. 

Call it "whistling past the graveyard."

We did not take the brunt of Sandy's rage.  We were spared.  New Jersey?  New York?  Not so lucky.  In fact, they got whomped in a devastating way.  Including, I'm sure, the little dog-friendly beach we visited last June with Charlie.  His first (and thus far only) time at the ocean. 

I feel terribly for the folks who were hit so very hard.  And I feel like I need to explain the Sandy jokes.  They weren't borne of callousness or a desire to get a giggle at the expense of others.  No, it was just nervousness and a need to try to lighten things up and allay our fears in the face of something scary.

If it ever came across as anything but that, please accept my deepest apologies. 

And so . . .

We came through Sandy pretty okay.  I haven't checked the basement yet, but the back yard isn't under water so I'm confident the basement came through okay.  The trees are still standing, though the ground is pretty solidly saturated.  Our power stayed with us all the while--thank you, NOVEC! 

Sadly (but not surprisingly) they did not come for the old car yesterday, which means we're short on the deductible for the repairs on the new car.  Hopefully, they'll be here before then. 

Spent awhile talking to my dad on the phone today.  Just letting him know we're okay. 

Ordered a crank radio/two-way/flashlight/cell phone charger.  It's a cheap brand, Dad let me know, but it'll do for now.  I know, barn door and all that, but we'll have it for next time. 

Not sure what to do with the sandbags.  Leave 'em up?  Dunno.

I am very sad today.  A relative gave me some shocking and awful information about our Grandpa, and it's really chewing at me.  I'm not obsessing, but there's a pall.  Not even sure why--while I adored him, fact was my exposure was limited, and the last time I saw him I was 17, and he cut all ties when he moved to Ohio to live with my Dad not long after.  In fact, when he was 80 or so, he received some honor from the State of Ohio and mentioned only my Dad's "new" kids as his grandkids--left out my three cousins, my sister, and me.  Even so, it's hard, learning something awful about him.

I'm very tired.  Glad the worst of the storm went on by, sad for the folks in New York and New Jersey (and that little boy in Montrose).  Being on guard for a couple of days is emotionally draining.  But we're better prepared than we were, and the next one will be easier because we've already so much pulled together. 

Did I mention the dog finally shat?  Yeah, late last night he finally did his business outside.  We were starting to worry he would explode.

Hurricane Sandybags

Manassas announced on their Facebook page that they're handing out sandbags today, so we headed straight out and grabbed our little allotment (ten) and dragged them out back in hopes of keeping the floodwaters out of the basement.  Cross your fingers, huh?

Rain is coming down in earnest now.  It's getting darker out there by the minute.  The dog won't go outside to do his business.  Have all the electronics plugged in (the camera battery plugged in AGAIN) so that, if/when the power goes out, we'll have those phones and such.  We did pick up an old-fashioned CORDED phone so that, should the power die we'll still have a land line.  Last load of dishes going because who wants dirty dishes laying about?

Bad news on the "fill the tubs" front.  Turns out neither of them is really water-tight.  Slow leak, losing an inch or so every few hours.  Great.  Worse news?  The atheist-hating neighbor (remember?  "No forgiveness, NO forgiveness!") has left a large portable steel and canvas gazebo up in her back yard.  Wind is buffetting it about already, and we're nowhere near maximum winds yet.  Prevailing wind's gonna toss that thing right at the ass end of our place.  Goodness.  Losing power--lot of flickering. Real quick, here's the atheist-crushing gazebo of Antioch:

Wind is really picking up.  Hoping NOVEC comes through and keeps the lights on. 

Well, it's started

It's funny--this is my first hurricane as an adult, and it's feeling a lot like labor and delivery.  It's not too bad yet, but I know it's going to get dramatically worse, and there's no way to back out.  The rain has upticked pretty impressively in the past twenty minutes or so, and they're predicting 6-8 inches in our area.  With the way our back yard takes on water with even 1-2 inches of rain, I don't see any way that basement's not going to flood.  No flood insurance, of course.  Maybe we'll get lucky.

Pffft.

Made all my "love you, if you don't hear from me for a few days it doesn't mean things are awful, it just means the power is out and cell service is disrupted" calls yesterday.  Then spent the day prepping--pulling together the last bits of emergency bins, clearing the closet to put them, taking care of chores that can't be done with no power, making sure the electronics are fully charged, etc.  Sadly, we only have a dozen spare D batteries.  Hopefully, we won't need more than that.  Also convinced hubby to put the garbage cans in the shed--didn't want some 70 mph gust to send them flying.

On the bright side (and speaking of garbage), they came through to pick up garbage this morning.  Poor guys--while it rocks for US that the HOA-contracted company works in a HURRICANE, it sucks for them.  Bet county didn't do pick-ups today.

Thanks, guys!

I'll be checking in when I can.  Our boy said he's "strangely excited" by the storm, and wanted to know if that was wrong.  I don't know if it's wrong or not, but big storms have always done that to me. 

Here're my first and second videos--nothing exciting:

First video--not much wind, a little rain.

Second video--you can't tell, but that wind ripped the door out of my hand, though I caught it before it could bang against the wall.

Very Quick

Just a quick note--went to BJ's, grabbed some deals, still not sure who we're going with, though their hours and happy taking of coupons will likely sway us in that direction.  Putting together an emergency bin tonight--batteries, meds, first aid kit, waters, etc.  The dilemma?  Where to put it?  Upstairs, well away from any water (but possible gone with high winds), or in the basement, safe from wind but possibly under water?  I think I'm going to compromise and shoot for the closet in the hall on the main floor.  Close to where ever we need it, can haul it to the car if we need to evacuate.  I don't think we'll need to, but I am scared to death we'll wind up with a flooded basement.  No, we don't have flood insurance. 

Wondering if our auto insurance covers flooding?  Wouldn't it be hilarious if our new car wound up under water?  All flood damaged like the last one?  Oh, yeah, that would be a RIOT.

Noticed that Dominion has got wire reels and equipment distributed throughout the area, getting ready for the potential disaster.  We're on NOVEC, and we're hoping that, like with the big derecho storm that swept through in June, we won't lose power here. 

Anyway, I have to go start packing bins.  Anyone have suggestions for family photo albums?  I have a million of them, and they're too big and heavy and bulky to pack.  Shoot.  This is complicated.

More on "Deathicane Sandy"

Oh, a big thank you to the folks over here who've informed me, advised me, and given me the wonderful phrase "Deathicane Sandy!"  No, laughing at it doesn't make it any less likely to flood my utterly non-flood-insured basement, but it does make the waiting a lot easier.  Deathicane Sandy?  No worries, New Jersey--no way this things gets past my web of crappy luck.  Prince William County, Virginia is gonna be where this storm starts, lingers, and finishes.  Right over my head. 

Betcha.

Also, I forgot to post this little Halloween beauty.  It's brought me joy every year since I discovered it, and I want you to have some joy, too!


Jonathan Coulton--Eat Your Brains

Hours later--went to Wegmans for the usual shopping, plus to grab some extra waters for Deathicane Sandy.  They were almost out of waters--luckily, we've already got a fair bit, so only needed a couple of packages.  It was Halloween Trick-or-Treat at Wegmans, so the store was crawling with little kids in costume.  During checkout, a poor woman with three little princesses lost one.  Little Courtney, who is only six, had poofed, and her mom was increasingly panicking.  I don't blame her--our boy's done that to us more than once.  I asked her who she was missing, and then offered to watch her other two (who were a very small four and eight) while she looked for Courtney.  At one point, I saw her running to the customer service desk, frantic, and I started to really worry.  I had been asking people as they went by to keep an eye out for a little girl in a bright yellow princess dress, but no one had seen her.  After about ten minutes, Mom came back with a very teary and contrite Courtney.  I was very happy--almost crying happy.  Because crappy things happen and this needed to not be one of those crappy things.  I'm happy that Courtney is safe at home with her Mom and sisters. 

Because the FUN Never Ends!

Let's go ahead and give the GOOD news first, huh?  My Dad and Step-Mom sent 200 bucks to help out.  We thought that would pay for our boy's Hapkido and put a little toward the car payment. Nice, right?  Plus, my Epinions check came.  There's the rest of the car payment plus my dentist appointment in ten days.   Wonderful, huh?  Frees up some money for Christmas.

Or the $500 deductible because the brand new car, with  my husband in it, got hit by a damned semi.

Okay.  Obviously, I've wandered into the BAD news. 

Hubby had taken the car out to the Vienna Metro Station because he was running late and missed his local bus.  He was on his way home last night, merging onto the 66.  Traffic wasn't much moving, just a few miles per hour.  An opening appeared in front of the semi.  Hubby looked up, the semi came to a complete halt, so hubby slipped in.  And then the semi hit the gas and beat the hell out of our car.  The driver claims he didn't see my husband, and I'm sure that's true.  And that's the crux of the disaster for us--the cop (who didn't want to give any tickets but buckled because the trucker said he had to be able to show his employers a ticket) decided that, since hubby could see the truck but the truck couldn't see him, the ticket would go to hubby.  Even though the truck wasn't moving and hubby was merged enough that he was hit by the center of the semi's bumper, not the passenger side edge, as you would expect with a merging hit.  It's only a thirty dollar ticket for improper lane travel, but betcha it costs us a hell of a lot more than that in the long run.

So, the new car.  The driver's side tail light assembly is shot--cracked lenses, bent frame, etc.  The driver's side rear quarter panel is a mess--badly dented, plus a deep, all-the-way-through rent in the metal.  The gas cap door is bent and scraped.  The cop said "under two thousand," but I'm thinking probably around two grand, perhaps more with the paint.  Oh, and the five hundred dollar deductible coming out of the rent paycheck.

What a mess.  It really doesn't ever stop.

On the bright side, my husband didn't get sandwiched between the semi and the vehicle ahead.  Believe me, that's the thing I keep trying to focus on.  Instead of thinking of the Christmas that just got blown to hell or the summer camp promises that just took a ding.  I'm scared to death this is going to do a real number on our insurance premiums, especially since we JUST made a claim last week for the windshield.  Two claims in a week on a new car?  Yeah, that's going to go over great.

Have no idea if the trucker's insurance/employer is going to try to ding us--hubby says there was nothing more than some small scratches on his bumper, but who knows if that's going to turn into something bigger, claims-wise. 

Plus, the ticket?  The "$30.00 ticket?"  Is actually a $92.00 ticket because of the "convenience fee."  What the HELL?  Just now figured that out.  "Convenience?"  I gotta tell ya, this doesn't feel at all CONVENIENT to me.  In fact, it feels like a giant, aching, throbbing BOIL in an incredibly INconvenient spot!

I'm trying to be positive here--this is a first accident on an otherwise totally clear record.  No accident claims against this policy ever, and the policy has been in effect for almost 18 years.  Oh, please, we just need a break here!

Oh, AND?  HURRICANE SANDY!  Yes, because the good stuff always comes in waves (and high winds, and heavy rains, and . . . you get it).  Gonna get a radio, batteries, and a little more water.  Wish us luck!  Pictures to be posted as they happen.  Within reason, of course!