Here are some photos, and where necessary, some brief explanations...
I had a mild meltdown on the Thursday after the storm. I was bored, cold, frustrated and angry. We had no heat and no electric, and I was sick and tired of going to bed at 6pm because there was nothing else to do once it got dark. I was feeling sorry for myself; other people had generators, we didn't, and they didn't have to sit in the cold and in the dark night after night... After my little crying spell, J did what he always does: he knows how to handle me. He suggested we go for a walk around the neighborhood. So we did. And this is what we saw around the corner: this neighbor's house was struck by not one, but by TWO trees. One came down square on the side of the house you can't see, damaging the attic and the 2nd floor. This tree came down in the front of the house, and was tall enough to fall on two cars parked in the driveway to the right side of the house, out of the camera's frame. They were parked in the OTHER NEIGHBOR'S driveway. And one of the cars was new enough to still have paper plates. In other words, the car was less than one month old. I soon realized I had very little to feel sorry about, and that in fact, I should be feeling really grateful all we had was a loose roof shingle and some bent siding.
My empty refrigerator. We lost everything. I did manage to save a dozen eggs and a half gallon of milk; I took them to my mom's house. But her refrigerator and freezer were full and the whole neighborhood was without power. We had no choice but to throw it all away. On the bright side? My refrigerator hasn't been this clean since the day we bought it!
This is our extra freezer in the basement. We lost all of this food, too. No generator = no power = no food.
This is my neighbor's house at the lake. If that tree fell about 20' further to the right, it would have hit my house, and my deck, and well, I wouldn't be talking about how lucky I was to have suffered no damage during Hurricane Sandy! Thankfully, although there was some roof damage, it doesn't seem too severe.
Dinner by candelight the first night after the storm, after we had lost power. On the menu? Cube steaks and a package of frozen vegetables, in our feeble attempt to eat it before we had to throw it out.
Some of what was in the refrigerator...
And more...
And one of the three bags from the freezer up on top of the refrigerator...
Our dining room light switch, once we got power restored six LOOONG days later... Notice it's in the ON position! I told J I feel like leaving lights on "just 'cause I can!" Of course we don't do that, but in the dark of the night, between us, I really want to use as much electric as I possibly can! I really want to waste it, use more than I should, leave the lights on, the radio or TV on when we're not in the room...
Sorry if this is too photo-heavy, but that's my way of sharing a peek into our lives during the storm. I am so very grateful that the worst of what I had to experience is a little lost food and some cold. So many lost so much more...
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