November 2, 2012 Hurricane Sandy Pittstown, NJ

Pinky and I are now four days without power, telephone service, water, heat, television or internet service. Thank goodness we have cell phone service. This is all due to Frankenstorm Sandy, which hit us Monday evening and lasted well into Tuesday. We would have had to be totally clueless not to know about the threat of the storm being on its way. News coverage was non stop. Even the mainstream media got it right! We didn’t have that much rain, only about 2”, but the wind was terrific! Anticipating Sandy’s arrival, we invited our next door neighbors, Tom and Doris Hurban, over for wine and snacks. This was a brilliant move on our part because rather than obsessing over the storm, we instead enjoyed the company of good friends and fine wine. As the evening wore on, the bumps on the roof became of less concern, largely because we didn’t care quite so much about them. We slept well despite the roar of the storm’s fury! The next day we awoke to find ourselves isolated due to numerous large trees having blown down over our 900’ long driveway. I heard the sound of a chainsaw and on investigating found Tom busy attending to sawing away. I joined him late in the AM. Tom rejoiced when Ryan unexpectedly arrived with chainsaw in tow to help us out! I did, too, for that matter, and he was a tremendous help. By the middle of the afternoon we cleared the path for ingress and egress for both our houses. (Ryan later admitted that if he had known the conditions were so bad, he might not have come to our help!) Later in the afternoon when fruitlessly seeking a shower at Courtside tennis club, I found that a straight route didn’t exist and that roads everywhere were closed due to fallen trees and downed wires. Clinton was totally dark, and most signalized intersections along state route 31were without power and closed down. That evening Pinky and I (without shower) were guests with the Lazarottis of the Hurbans, who had the forethought spend thriftiness to have a generator in their home, for one of Doris’ magnificently prepared dinners. Things weren’t so bad after all, and no one complained about me. My mistake on Wednesday was to drive to Panera Restaurant in Flemington to connect to the internet to finish an overdue ’69 CSF report. It was totally mobbed, with an unbelievable long line to order something to eat. Half of Flemington must have been there – high school students, crying babies, the works. I found an outlet next to a table I shared with a Kutztown coed, did my work and escaped. The commercial areas of Flemington had power, and there were long, long lines at the couple of gas stations that were open. There were many people standing in line with gas cans getting fuel for their home generators. The big events Thursday were lunch at Applebys in Flemington, where Pinky and I saw a TV for the first time since Monday morning, and my shower after tennis that evening at Courtside (where I was also able to charge my laptop and mifi)! How great it was. I hadn’t gone that long without a shower since Ethiopia in 2006! So now it’s Friday and still no power in Pittstown. So what are we going to do? Movie time at the Phillipsburg Regal theater, which has power and is open, to see Argo, a welcome reprieve from tending to the woodstove and fireplace. Then Monday – off to Cancun with the Mitchells. It is ironic that we have to go to essentially a third world country to renew our connection with the world and improve our standard of living!