Impending weather

To all of our friends along the northeast coast AND INLAND with impending weather threats... please prepare yourselves. We are HUNDREDS OF MILES INLAND and are receiving government flood alerts. 100mm (4+ inches) of rain expected along with 100+ kph winds. No jokes. This may be a false alarm but better to be ready with a case or two of water, some canned food, crank up flashlights and radio, batteries, wood for the fireplace, etc. Good luck to our friends in harm's way.

Murray L

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Tikosyn uptake Dec 2011 500ug b.i.d. NSR since!
Herein lies opinion, not professional advice, which all are well advised to seek.

Wonderfully smack dab in the middle of it here in DC. Planning on lots of flooding and 30-60mph winds tomorrow/Tuesday. Will be at home since I don't have a car and metro and busses won't be running. Everything seems to be shutting down in advance of all of this.
Nancy

Thanks Murray.

Nancy, same here in So. MD. What they're calling for is bizarre, to say the least. Up to 10 inches of rain, and a blizzard in western Md. Who knows what the real story will be.

This could be really bad or nothing at all. Keep us in your good thoughts and prayers, all.

Thanks,

lisa
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So much of medicine is looking solely down the wrong end of the gun barrel, and that is really a pity for all of us---Shannon

Yes indeed, Murray, -- prayers and strong good thoughts for all in monster Sandy's way - Nancy, Lisa ...!

For current status see [www.nhc.noaa.gov]

Fine here, power still on and no trees down in immediate area. Lots of trees down a few blocks either direction though.
Nancy

We, in the DC area have fared pretty well. It got pretty windy, but not howling (like past hurricanes).

Driving around today in So. MD, there was very little damage.

We have been fortunate, indeed.

lisa
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So much of medicine is looking solely down the wrong end of the gun barrel, and that is really a pity for all of us---Shannon

I've been watching the weather on TV and how terrible it must be to be in the middle of all that...I'm in Ca. so I guess I'm lucky..not even near the last earthquake....My prayers are with all of you...Nel

Big wind yesterday, lots of rain, thunderstorms. Still raining today. No power outages yet. Hope for the best. The cats have become housecats again, they really appreciate house life in the winter.

PeggyM

Well gang, as Thursday daylight approaches I can say we have been fortunate in most of southern Ontario. Forecast was for 100 kph winds and 100mm of rain; we got perhaps 65 kph winds and don't know the rain issue yet, but it has been spread out over the last four days so flooding has been a minor issue, although the subways were shut down, etc.

We did have numerous power outages, so winds aloft must have been higher than ground level causing high tension lines some grief. We were prepared with a week of canned meals, MRE's, bottled water (we still maintain bottled water supply here; always about two cases of bottles and a half dozen large bottles of the type that sit on a cooler.... not that the water supply is endangered, but we are survivalists to an extent and maintain a week of staples all the time anyway). Now we will have to eat our way through several days of canned and dried foods (tough to find for a paleo like diet, huh?). Had several high power flashlights with 123A batteries as well as crank up light and radios ready as well and the power on the ham radio handhelds all charged up. Lots of batteries on hand to be cycled now too. Extra snowblower fuel can now be dumped into car gas tanks and our extra propane for the BBQ will always come in handy.... not that we'd have been BBQing steaks ... more likely brewing tea during the power outages (we had about a dozen but they were pretty short; no heat during the outages of course except for the fireplace).

We maintain (nefariously) a thirty day to sixty day supply of emergency medications in case of SHTF circumstances. Note now that our TIKOSYN has a life expectancy of only about 4 months or so.... we we cycle it all the time to make sure our reserve is fresh. For anyone concerned about a loss of supply chain on meds, good idea to keep an eye on expiry dating!

So, the apocolype was a non issue as it turns out. We had the roof inspected and prepared ($150) and added extensions to our downspouts to get the deluge of water away from the foundation of the house; calked the basement windows and placed clear plastic window well covers on to keep the rain from filling them up (never happened anyway) but will be good for the winter anyway. And brought in some extra ammo although the use of extreme force in Canada is frowned upon, even in self defense it seems. Big discussion on the Canadian forums going on now.... I'd rather be judged by 12 than carried by 6..... and when TSHTF, regardless of what one might think, even the meek are willing to take whatever measures they need to in order to maintain their families and themselves.

The only thing I think we will do differently in future is get one of those small Chicago power generators from Harbour Freight so we don't have to go nuts with the flashlights, etc. They are cheap and we have the fuel stores anyway for the snowblower. Small and light and enough to run an electric fry pan or toaster..... might as well live like a King in the dark. Seriously speaking, we have sleep apnea and cannot sleep without our CPAP machine and oxygen concentrator.... our BP skyrockets when we hit REM sleep. Not a good thing, heart issues or not. But combine that with an aFib episode and things can get nasty. Working on a system to let the O2 concentrator die in a power outage and maintain the battery backup on the CPAP, etc. Heck, I'm even trying to figure out the air conditioning for a single room in extreme summer heat here as Mum has COPD and cannot take thehot air and neither can I.

So there you have it. The apolocalypse that wasn't. Our relatives in Atlantic City and New York did not fare quite as well but are okay. AC relatives live in Margate, two blocks from the ocean and were flooded out but will recover. They themselves were evacuated inland well before the storm hit but it was freaky and so sad to see AC under water. NYC fared .... well, it's hard to say.... the subways flooded, etc., and homes in Battery Park, etc., but it's all drying out now. What a mess.

Now back to the issue at hand. Had my stress test this week and (yes in the rain) the cardiologist was not impressed with a skyrocketing blood pressure. I think he figures it was due to (asides from being grossly out of shape) my lung capacity issues and wants me to start on a drug called AMLODIPINE 2.5mg b.i.d. to open up my blood vessels. Problem is that my BP is generally about normal. I'm waiting to speak with the pharmacologist at the cardiac center at Southlake to see if it's okay to take along with my TIKOSYN.

Glad to see we all came through the storm alright.

Murray L

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Tikosyn uptake Dec 2011 500ug b.i.d. NSR since!
Herein lies opinion, not professional advice, which all are well advised to seek.

On the other hand, watching the devastation on TV, I just want all of our friends in New York, Delaware, NJ, etc., near the shore, to know that our thoughts and prayers are with them. For the life of me I don't understand what is taking so long to get some action going there to help. We have family and friends in the Atlantic City area and in New York. Our family in AC (Margate) have lost their homes for all intents and purposes and most of the contents. It was strange to see Mayor Bloomberg backtrack on the NY Marathon..... the organizers were in tears making the announcement on TV and in the end, it turns out that it was not the Mayor, nor the President, nor FEMA, nor anyone we would have thought of that killed the marathon. IT WAS THE HOTELS! They all said, apparently, that they were filled to the brim with the homeless and were doing their best to feed them and give them places to shower and wash. AND THEY WERE NOT GOING TO kick anyone out or stop what they were doing for a 'game'.

This has changed my view of NYC hotels forever. Bravo.

Please keep all of those that are in harm's way and who have lost everything in your thoughts and prayers.

And know that those that WE know in NY, NJ, DEL, etc., are TROOPERS! God bless you all.

Murray L

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Tikosyn uptake Dec 2011 500ug b.i.d. NSR since!
Herein lies opinion, not professional advice, which all are well advised to seek.

I thought we had got off scott free here in maine, until check day came and everybody's bank revealed that their data processing and computer headquarters was in new jersey, and because of that they could not verify anybody's balance. They came back online before close of business, though, so everything apparently got dewatered. Lovely term that, dewatered. I like it.

PeggyM