'Round the World Weather Report

[CineMaven]

Professional Tourist, I recognized a couple of places from those pictures of Manhattan. WoW!

[Professional Tourist]

Jack Favell hasn't checked in yet -- probably lives in an area of Connecticut with power outage.

[MichiganJ]

My brother and father in North Jersey have been without power since early Sunday morning. There is so much flooding in the area that they can't get out of their development. Their office is just down their street, but the access road is still under 4' of water with part of the road likely washed away.

Haven't yet heard from my sister in Vermont.

[knitwit45]

Kevin, they are in our prayers.

[JackFavell]

Kevin, I hope all is well with your family.

Here in Connecticut, we are coping with power outages. I just got power turned back on at 6 this morning, and I am ecstatic! Our street is the only one so far in the neighborhood. We were told it would take a week, and although I am optimistic, I was beginning to think it really would be that long.

We are all fine, but there are a lot of trees down, leaning on power lines, making it difficult for the light and power companies to do their work. The yard looks....like a hurricane hit it.

I raked yesterday and the biggest, fattest worms were all on the surface of the ground, right under the leaves and sticks and trash that had blown down. Hundreds of them! Literally the entire yard was covered with a 2 or 3 inch layer of leaves and sticks.... if you look out the window at neighbor's yards, the lawns are all bumpy looking, like the rubble on unpaved streets in a war zone, only green.

We got significantly less water than we were expecting, thankfully, and this has made things much easier. I spent all morning cleaning out the fridge so we can replace everything. My mother in law never lost power (thank goodness, she is eighty and in not too good health). We took our freezer goods over to her house to store, so we are ahead of the game. The stores are empty - they have no milk at all, due to people rushing out to buy. They are stocked up on rotisserie chickens, I've never seen so many in my life.

[movieman1957]

Glad you're safe. I saw your gov on TV this morning and they were saying one out of three homes in the state was still without power. I hope things get back to normal soon.

[MichiganJ]

One of the things my brother did before the storm was to fill a number of empty 2-liter bottles with water and then freeze them. When the power went out, he popped those frozen bottles into the refrigerator and, at least since last night, they have worked to keep the beer cool.

[JackFavell]

Thanks Chris. I find it funny that you can hear my gov where you are, but we can't.

Wished I'd thought of that ice trick! The one thing I could've used was some bags of ice to keep some of our already cooked food from spoiling. And of course the beer. We had about 5 jugs of water in the fridge, I could've just put a couple in the freezer.

Internet access seems sporadic...sometimes I can get through and sometimes I can't.

[Rita Hayworth]

One of the things my brother did before the storm was to fill a number of empty 2-liter bottles with water and then freeze them. When the power went out, he popped those frozen bottles into the refrigerator and, at least since last night, they have worked to keep the beer cool.

Wished I'd thought of that ice trick! The one thing I could've used was some bags of ice to keep some of our already cooked food from spoiling. And of course the beer. We had about 5 jugs of water in the fridge, I could've just put a couple in the freezer.

MichiganJ ... I like the way you are thinking here about filling empty 2-liter bottles w/water. I will definitively start doing that and be prepared in my next power outage here in Emerald City - Seattle.

Jack Favell ... I love it when you said "Wished I'd thought of that ice trick!"

[charliechaplinfan]

I'm so glad you are all safe and well. I wouldn't know where to start if we were ever afflicted with a hurricae. At least I know where to come for help. I hope everything continues to improve.

[MichiganJ]

Wished I'd thought of that ice trick!

When going to events that we can bring cold beverages I usually just freeze a bunch of regular water bottles and use them as the "cold packs." That way when they thaw, we have cold water. Remember your physics, though; don't fill the bottle all the way to the top when freezing.

[knitwit45]

When the weather turns really cold, I fill plastic milk bottles with water, and keep one in each bathroom, just in case the pipes freeze

[moira finnie]

I'm glad that most members seem to have escaped Mother Nature's bad moods lately, though I wish I knew if our friend from Vermont (Klondike) was okay and if our other pal, Christy (SueSue Applegate) is okay in Texas. Has anyone heard anything?

[movieman1957]

Christy posted something here this afternoon in response to one of my posts. She sounds fine as there is no comment about anything there.

[Uncle Stevie]

When I am in dire need of drink I will open even a warm bottle of water. Moisture is more important to me than cool pleasure.

I have a friend in Denville, New Jersey who lost their house when Irene filled the basement and then half filled the first floor of living with river water. Furnace oil is drifting throughout. They still cannot get back in to see the full extent of the damage but expect it to be total. They are living with relatives now with their two small kids. Their two dogs are split up elsewhere. It is sad to think how many others in my nearby area are suffering from similar happeneings. You may have seen my region in the TV News. I live near Lodi, Wallinton, Paterson, Passaic, Wayne, Pompton Lakes, Boonton, and many other small towns afflicted. Thankfully I and my family of children are safe and unaffected but it is all around us. We were spared because we live too far away from river banks.