When the Mrs. told me there was snow expected in the Poconos I said ok “we wont go”. She said it will only be a “couple of inches... it will be fun” so I agreed -it would prove to be a big mistake. We left Thursday at 6AM so I could be online and working by 9AM. Yeah I can work from anywhere there’s an internet connection. A bit of early rise (the dog woke me at 5AM) and a smooth drive and all went well. When I get off the highway even though its still a good 25 minutes to the house I feel Ive got the worse behind me. We drove passed a WaWa a Turkey Hill and another nameless giant gass station. It was my second mistake. Why stop when the fuel tank said a bit more then half.
After we arrived I logged on got to work, my wife and sister in law got to work at their planned activity - patching a ding in the stairway wall and sealing a ugly stain below one of the windows. Then painting the entire walls where both decor offending imperfections resided. They ran out to the store and bought some supplies and were gone for 2 hours. By the end of the evening the wall looked fantastic - job done. We made a great dinner, watched some tv, had a couple glasses of white wine and went to bed.
Friday - the dog did what she does and woke me, it was a bit after 6AM. I started the coffee and walked her and there was a snow, sleet mixture going on out there. The Mrs woke around 7:30 and announced the forecast has changed to up to a foot. By that time it had changed to all snow, huge flakes. In no time at all every tree and screen in the house in was coated in snow. Then the wind started to build and the temperature started to drop. Fast forward a few hours and the overloaded tree limbs and trees started to fall. I took a nap only to be woken by the crash of a monster tree across the street. The outside had transformed into an interior Alaska blizzard and whiteout. I shovled the walk and make a pathetic attempt to clean he car. It was then that a tree let go and fell on my BILs aluminum bass boat. I went back in the house...
7PM four oldsters, counting the pooch, having an unhappy blanket party in the living room. No electric, no heat, candles, water in buckets for flushing. Listening to the howling wind and falling trees. It is times like these when I am reminded what a softie I am. We didn’t use the fireplace because we felt our best option was to evacuate as soon as the snow stopped. 9PM the snow stopped and we closed up the house by candlel and flash light. We had to break into the frozen ice sealed car. With limited cell service we were able to have our daughter identify a gas station open and pumping gas, next to a hospital about 20 miles, away on the way home.
A valiant plow driver had made passes every couple of hours. Had he not there was no way we would have made it out. Our home is at the bottom of a big hill. My Toyota Highlander did us right and we made it to the top of the hill. The main road was closed and we had to take an alternate less hilly path. Still there is no way off the mountain without going downhill - it was a white knuckle affair - 5MPH and twice I felt the pulse of the anti-skid breaks kick in. Only when we turned out of our neighborhood did we get a sense of the devastation. Cars strewn every which way, trees half blocking the road and down wires ...oh those down wires. It was an obstacle course the wind and blowing snow added to the effect. Only the dog wasn’t scared. All those wires ratified our decision to leave. There would be no heat at that house other than the fireplace for some time.
The gas station was packed, only had premium and I was grateful for it. The Mrs and SIL bought coffees the other patrons talked about the number of closed roads. The further we got from the Poconos the better it got. We rolled in after midnight. The power which had been off at home was now on. Thank god.
I’m such a softie.
Florida anyone?
P.S. At home I have a generator, an inlet to plug it into and a switch to turn the hose onto generator mode. Our two gas stoves operate on a couple of AA batteries in the receiver and the thermostat - so we have heat when the electric is out. I also have 3 kerosene lamps. Since no one has ever lived in the Pocono house full time it isn’t well equipped.
If I were the sole owner if would
1. Put an insert into the fireplace
2. Buy a small Generator and wire an intlet it so it powers the water pump, an outlet or two and the fridge
3. Get a couple Kerosene lamps
4. Buy Battery operated radio
After we arrived I logged on got to work, my wife and sister in law got to work at their planned activity - patching a ding in the stairway wall and sealing a ugly stain below one of the windows. Then painting the entire walls where both decor offending imperfections resided. They ran out to the store and bought some supplies and were gone for 2 hours. By the end of the evening the wall looked fantastic - job done. We made a great dinner, watched some tv, had a couple glasses of white wine and went to bed.
Friday - the dog did what she does and woke me, it was a bit after 6AM. I started the coffee and walked her and there was a snow, sleet mixture going on out there. The Mrs woke around 7:30 and announced the forecast has changed to up to a foot. By that time it had changed to all snow, huge flakes. In no time at all every tree and screen in the house in was coated in snow. Then the wind started to build and the temperature started to drop. Fast forward a few hours and the overloaded tree limbs and trees started to fall. I took a nap only to be woken by the crash of a monster tree across the street. The outside had transformed into an interior Alaska blizzard and whiteout. I shovled the walk and make a pathetic attempt to clean he car. It was then that a tree let go and fell on my BILs aluminum bass boat. I went back in the house...
7PM four oldsters, counting the pooch, having an unhappy blanket party in the living room. No electric, no heat, candles, water in buckets for flushing. Listening to the howling wind and falling trees. It is times like these when I am reminded what a softie I am. We didn’t use the fireplace because we felt our best option was to evacuate as soon as the snow stopped. 9PM the snow stopped and we closed up the house by candlel and flash light. We had to break into the frozen ice sealed car. With limited cell service we were able to have our daughter identify a gas station open and pumping gas, next to a hospital about 20 miles, away on the way home.
A valiant plow driver had made passes every couple of hours. Had he not there was no way we would have made it out. Our home is at the bottom of a big hill. My Toyota Highlander did us right and we made it to the top of the hill. The main road was closed and we had to take an alternate less hilly path. Still there is no way off the mountain without going downhill - it was a white knuckle affair - 5MPH and twice I felt the pulse of the anti-skid breaks kick in. Only when we turned out of our neighborhood did we get a sense of the devastation. Cars strewn every which way, trees half blocking the road and down wires ...oh those down wires. It was an obstacle course the wind and blowing snow added to the effect. Only the dog wasn’t scared. All those wires ratified our decision to leave. There would be no heat at that house other than the fireplace for some time.
The gas station was packed, only had premium and I was grateful for it. The Mrs and SIL bought coffees the other patrons talked about the number of closed roads. The further we got from the Poconos the better it got. We rolled in after midnight. The power which had been off at home was now on. Thank god.
I’m such a softie.
Florida anyone?
P.S. At home I have a generator, an inlet to plug it into and a switch to turn the hose onto generator mode. Our two gas stoves operate on a couple of AA batteries in the receiver and the thermostat - so we have heat when the electric is out. I also have 3 kerosene lamps. Since no one has ever lived in the Pocono house full time it isn’t well equipped.
If I were the sole owner if would
1. Put an insert into the fireplace
2. Buy a small Generator and wire an intlet it so it powers the water pump, an outlet or two and the fridge
3. Get a couple Kerosene lamps
4. Buy Battery operated radio
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