Well that was fun! No not really.
Yesterday we took 2 drives. The first one we wanted to see who else was out of power and we did this at daytime. So of coarse about the only thing we could see was signal lights. We did see that the mall was without power and quite a few businesses. We drove for a while and then I wanted to go into another town and pulled off an exit. That exit had us going in only one direction. You go that direction for about .5 miles and there was a HUGE tree blocking the road. No one was working on this tree. So we made a u-turn. We went to get lunch and it was a MAD house! People were EVERYWHERE! I think everyone without power was eating out.
Then last night we took a walk and found a cluster of neighbors talking about the power outage. I guess half of our neighborhood lost power the prior day (Tuesday) and we lost it yesterday (Wednesday). I felt bad for the ones who were without for so long.
We came back home and that is when I took the candle photo. We were trying to defrost our pork for our German meal (for Reformation day). As we sat there and froze, we realized that it was getting late, and we were all cold, so we decided to just eat out. We bundled up and went out to get something quick from the grocery store. Well I went the back way to the grocery store and saw a small wreck (in front of the hospital of all places) making so I couldn’t go to the “cheap” grocery store the normal way. We eventually went to the around to the store only to find it without power and closed. So we started driving back home, only to find that road blocked! Well at this point I decide to go to the other “cheap” grocery store (same chain different location). We are driving and it is PITCH black. All the houses have no power. We go for about 2-3 miles (guess here, could be more) and it was the same way. Businesses, grocery stores and everything are closed. We drive by the first place that we lived when we moved down here (where I started this blog) and it is dark, but only half of this complex is dark. Half of it has power! We drive by the same mall previously mentioned and we see a sea of those bucket trucks used for fixing power lines. I would guess it was in the dozens if not 100. Yet the mall has no power. The store that we were going to, has no power. So we drive down a different way and we see store after store without power. Whole shopping centers are dark. Finally we get to the area where we put an offer on a house before we got the house we currently live in (they rejected our offer and we walked away). They had power.
Coming back around, we drive by our neighborhood and we see we have power!!!! However at this point it is about 8:15 and we are starving! So we go on and go to another location for this grocery store. We drive down there with all the houses lit and get to the shopping center. We see a PACKED Red Robin but it has NO power. Clearly they just lost power, yet across the street (where the grocery store is) they have power. We go in there and quickly get our items and then find out that that store is closing at 9 pm (not normal for them) and that they are the only one of those stores that is open right now. Another branch that we didn’t go to also has no power. So that is 1 out of 4 of this one grocery store that has power as of last night!
As we drive out of the shopping center we see that Red Robin has power again.
The estimates that they are giving for damage from this storm I believe are WAY off. I dare say that there is very few if any, people in New Jersey that were not directly effected by this storm. I saw a facebook message from a friend of mine who had a tree fall down between her house and her detached garage. It didn’t damage either structure but knocked out all power and ways of communication. She just got cell service last night.
Tony is working from home again today. Hopefully he will be able to go in tomorrow or Monday. This storm really is having lasting impact even though we were not effected by the storm surge that devastated areas of this state.
We will be celebrating Reformation day tonight. We figure if Halloween can be moved for our state (to Monday) then we can move Reformation day. Reformation day for those who don’t know, is the day that Martin Luther (not Martin Luther King) posted his 95 Thesis to the church door saying his problems with the Catholic church at that time. This started the protestant reformation in the 1500’s. I should know the exact date but I am still converting to Lutheranism. Ha ha! We hope to watch Martin Luther the movie tonight as part of our evening for Reformation day.
Well we have to go pick up our share from the farm. I will update again later if there is something of note. I will be posting tomorrow the photos from our German day.