Storm preparations and update

House

generator

Wine

This morning I awoke to light rain and low 40's. The rain stopped long enough to get a 1.5 mile walk in with the dogs before the major rain gets here. During the last three days it has been very quiet in the woods not much in the way of wind or animal movement. The animals seem to know when a storm is coming, although I don't think they have a way of gauging how big it is unless they get weather.com on their personal computers.

They have pushed the higher wind out to 2 pm today and it will last for several days along with the rain, which according to the weather men should be heavy. Yesterday, I cleaned up the generator and put new spark plugs in and did a test start. Well, it didn't start. Seemed my carburetor was plugged. I am not always as confident with motors unless it is fairly simple things like spark plugs, oil, filters and such are about my limit. So I hauled it to the other side of mountain and a friend helped me take it apart and get it running. Thank goodness for friends that are willing to help on a Sunday.

So we got all the food we need; the generator works; and we have a bottle of wine to celebrate the arrival of Sandy along with our possible lack of electric, phone and internet. During the tornado a while back we didn't get power, phone or internet back for over a week so I am hoping this isn't any worse. But with the storm covering such a large area our local Electric Coop won't get much help until the major cities are back up and running.

When Agnes came through in the 70's it took out roads and bridges. The mountains have a way of funneling large amounts of water fast through the streams and if we have rain amounts over 6 inches I expect flooding and road damage. Cedar Run and Slate Run are in a worse spot then Leetonia for being flooded. In the past Leetonia has lost bridges but few people have had water come in their cabins. Not so for areas down stream, they are often covered in water and cut off by Pine Creek running across 414 to the North in Blackwell and the South in Jersey Shore(the Pennsylvania one).

People who live around here are used to power going out for even the smallest of thunderstorms and won't be phased much by losing power. Most keep plenty of food around and aren't panicked easily. But, they do prepare making sure they have the things they need to cut their way out of the forest or create their own power temporarily. Usually, our bigger emergencies during storms come from people visiting who panic that they can't get home or get hurt trying to get out.

My best advice is to treat it like you are having a extended vacation, relax, celebrate time with each other. Do what Lee and I do. Stay home, keep things operational, play cards or other games, and help others when you can. If the posts stop during the next few days you can make a good bet we are doing just that. Mountain girl, Paula, logging out.