Top 10 at least, if not Top 5

[GRG a/k/a goldenrulegirl]

That is how the blizzard descending upon New England today is being described.

TV weather folks are also using the following descriptors:

"prepare for the worst"
"a blizzard of historical proportions"

I've got food, milk, water, beer, and wine.

I need to run out and top off the gas tank on the car, get some cash, and some Starbuck's Via in case the power is out in the morning.  I have a cool stove top percolator I can use on our camping stove or tailgating grill, but it is buried in the storage pod at our house, so Via it is.  

I want to build a SMALL fire in the fireplace at this rental today to see if the chimney is clear and if the flue is working.  Figured I put it in some aluminum pans, so if the smoke backs up, I can carefully move the fire outside and not fill the house with smoke unnecessarily.   Any other fire/fireplace tips?  (We have a gas fireplace insert at home with a remote AND a manual ignition switch so my firemaking skills are a little rusty.)

[Tennesseer]

No fireplace suggestions.

I miss living in Massachusetts, just not in the winter.

Be safe.  The potential for power outages over several days is a very strong possibility.

[ArchietheDragon]

We may not make it.   

[ArchietheDragon]

Jan 26, 2015 10:28:56 GMT -5 GRG a/k/a goldenrulegirl said:

I want to build a SMALL fire in the fireplace at this rental today to see if the chimney is clear and if the flue is working.  Figured I put it in some aluminum pans, so if the smoke backs up, I can carefully move the fire outside and not fill the house with smoke unnecessarily.   Any other fire/fireplace tips?  (We have a gas fireplace insert at home with a remote AND a manual ignition switch so my firemaking skills are a little rusty.)

If you don't know the last time the fireplace was cleaned I would not use it.  Even if smoke goes up it with a small fire, if you build a big hot fire an unclean chimney can catch fire on the inside and cause much trouble. 

[Tennesseer]

Jan 26, 2015 10:55:52 GMT -5 ArchietheDragon said:

We may not make it.   

Donner Party recipes will see you through this.

[Deleted]

When was the last time the fireplace/flue was cleaned? What kind of lining system does the chimney have? 

[NancysSummerSip]

Jan 26, 2015 10:55:52 GMT -5 ArchietheDragon said:

We may not make it.   

Archie, you have little kids. You survive that, you can survive anything.

On a serious note, y'all take care in that region. This storm sounds serious. I have family in the NYC and Baltimore areas and friends in CT, and this all looks just fugly.

[ArchietheDragon]

Jan 26, 2015 10:59:07 GMT -5 NancysSummerSip said:

Jan 26, 2015 10:55:52 GMT -5 ArchietheDragon said:

We may not make it.   

Archie, you have little kids. You survive that, you can survive anything.

On a serious note, y'all take care in that region. This storm sounds serious. I have family in the NYC and Baltimore areas and friends in CT, and this all looks just fugly.

My wife went to Trader Joes this morning.  We might just make it afterall.    Of course she only got two jars of peanut butter.   That may not last me the night. 

[NancysSummerSip]

Jan 26, 2015 11:00:37 GMT -5 ArchietheDragon said:

Jan 26, 2015 10:59:07 GMT -5 NancysSummerSip said:

Archie, you have little kids. You survive that, you can survive anything.

On a serious note, y'all take care in that region. This storm sounds serious. I have family in the NYC and Baltimore areas and friends in CT, and this all looks just fugly.

My wife went to Trader Joes this morning.  We might just make it afterall.    Of course she only got two jars of peanut butter.   That may not last me the night. 

We just got Trader Joe's here. I suspect that store would be useless for most emergency supplies. Really nice, but not useful. Though I will say the selection of trail mix, nuts, nutrition bars and dried fruit is pretty good.

You are reminding me that even though we still have five months until hurricane season, it's a good time to start looking at what we have and weeding out the useless/old/out of date crap, and making sure stuff like lanterns and weather radios work.

[kittensaver]

And just remember, climate change is a myth.

But all sarcasm aside, please stay safe

[wyouser]

at 36 inches of snow, is there some worry about roof collapse?

[GRG a/k/a goldenrulegirl]

Jan 26, 2015 11:12:10 GMT -5 wyouser said:

at 36 inches of snow, is there some worry about roof collapse?

Not unless you foolishly bought/built a house with a flat roof.  

There is a reason Colonials and Capes are so popular here in New England.  Roof pitch is our friend here.  

[GRG a/k/a goldenrulegirl]

ONE of several local power companies just said that they alone are planning for 400,000 outages with a good chunk of those outages to last a week.  

At home, we could handle it no problem.  

Not so sure in the rental.

The lack of a back up heat source is the concern.  We are generally in the same neighborhood as our home (same elementary school) so we know that this street and the ones off of it often lose power for days during storms (very wooded area).  We have friends a street away from the rental who lost power last winter for 10 days (for perspective ONLY, these are homes worth $1-2 million -- not homes in questionable repair).

If worse came to worse, we could walk home (about 2 miles) and camp out in my living room -- no furniture, but the exterior "envelope" is closed and secured so we would be toasty with the gas fireplace at least.  

[cael]

This storm is actually a week late! Last week I wanted a storm on MLK day so that work would be closed on Tuesday (for my birthday) - they've already closed work for tomorrow for us. I'll take it though! I'm actually kind of excited, sorry guys. I was bummed with no snow yet this winter!!

We're in the 2foot-plus zone. My rehearsal tonight has been canceled, DH's class tonight has been canceled (his school is actually closed right through Wednesday already), I'm supposed to have class Wednesday night but I'm not sure if they'll cancel night classes or not. I'm ready to go, all snow tools are in my car or in the garage, found our snowpants, but my snowboots are in storage and I may not find them before tomorrow I do have my snowboard boots, which are uncomfortable but will have to do if we can't find my other ones. My parents' house loses power a lot so I'm kind of preparing for that.

Work's already planning for the event that we need to open a shelter for residents, but I don't live close enough anymore that they'd come get me and expect me to staff it (probably). We'll see what happens.

[GRG a/k/a goldenrulegirl]

The governor already declared a state of emergency.

We have to be off of the roads by midnight.

He said to prepare for a week without power because the crews cannot start repairs until the hurricane strength winds die down.  

Oy.

Hey, but that's why we live here -- right?  We LOVE the 4 seasons!!  

[GRG a/k/a goldenrulegirl]

It is now a "Top 5 Historic Storm" and it hasn't even started snowing yet.  

[cael]

I am going to be seriously devastated if they promise all this snow and excitement, then we get 8"!!

[ArchietheDragon]

What is the over/under of snow covered patio furniture pictures on everyone's facebook feeds?

[Ryan]

I always like to overbuy certain things in case of events like these.  I'm not a doomsday prepper, but I think you might as well have ample quantities of stuff on hand.  I have a bunch of bottles of water, firewood, fire starter, lighters, flashlights, batteries, medicine.  I also really was happy when I discovered you could use your hot water tank as an emergency backup water source..

Facebook is going to be blowing up with pictures of their house, patio, car, etc.  

[cael]

I'm just hoping I won't be posting a pic of the tree in the front yard (or branch of it) on top of my car

[Opti]

Jan 26, 2015 12:22:45 GMT -5 GRG a/k/a goldenrulegirl said:

The governor already declared a state of emergency.

We have to be off of the roads by midnight.

He said to prepare for a week without power because the crews cannot start repairs until the hurricane strength winds die down.  

Oy.

Hey, but that's why we live here -- right?  We LOVE the 4 seasons!!  

Sorry to read you are in the areas with the really bad winds. So far about 1 inch

or so of the light powdery snow has fallen here.

I hope they make allowances for nurses, police, EMTs and utility company folk to

be on the roads even with the state of emergency.

[GRG a/k/a goldenrulegirl]

Just heard from my landlord--we can use the fireplace in the kitchen , if necessary. Cool! It is about waist heght--think "wood-burning pizza oven". We won't have to worry about the puppy wandering in...

Bring it on, Mother Nature!!! But, since I am a little overly-sensitive in that area, can you please not drop any trees on the house? Actually, either house? ;-)~

[GRG a/k/a goldenrulegirl]

Opti: the Governor gave a long list of people who ARE allowed to drive and all of those folks are included. He wants people to use good judgement, but hospitals, etc. need to be staffed, too.

[Tennesseer]

Oh to be a kid again and hoping there would be no school tomorrow.  Loved those days.  Go out and toboggan in the snow.

[GRG a/k/a goldenrulegirl]

Jan 26, 2015 13:06:55 GMT -5 Tennesseer said:

Oh to be a kid again and hoping there would be no school tomorrow.  Loved those days.  Go out and toboggan in the snow.

ROFL--great memories!!!

But, I am a mean parent. We live in the one Massschusetts school district that RARELY cancels. Of course, since the Governor declared a state of emergency, there will be no school tomorrow, but only because of the declaration. :-)~

[weltschmerz]

Jan 26, 2015 11:10:27 GMT -5 kittensaver said:

And just remember, climate change is a myth.

But all sarcasm aside, please stay safe

Of course it's a myth!

Just pay no attention to all the extreme weather events.

You can be like all the FOXheads....look out your window at the blizzard and say "WHAT global warming?"

[cael]

Hey I'm not a kid and I fully plan to go out and find a hill, ANY hill, in my boring ass neighborhood I can snowboard down at least once or twice!

[Tennesseer]

Jan 26, 2015 13:11:41 GMT -5 GRG a/k/a goldenrulegirl said:

Jan 26, 2015 13:06:55 GMT -5 Tennesseer said:

Oh to be a kid again and hoping there would be no school tomorrow.  Loved those days.  Go out and toboggan in the snow.

ROFL--great memories!!!

But, I am a mean parent. We live in the one Massschusetts school district that RARELY cancels. Of course, since the Governor declared a state of emergency, there will be no school tomorrow, but only because of the declaration. :-)~

The very best steep hill in my neighborhood to sled or toboggan (actually two levels of hills (down one, level off, and continue on down again without stopping)) was at..., wait for it..., my high school which was a five minute walk away! But because students were also bussed in from surrounding towns (a Catholic high school), school was canceled and it made sense to do so.

You may remember my high school in Springfield-it was pretty much destroyed during the June, 2011 EF3 tornado that ripped through Springfield.

[GRG a/k/a goldenrulegirl]

I do know that school. Did they rebuild? One of the schools on ODS' college list this year was Springfield College which also suffered substantial damage in that tornado.

[justme]

Jan 26, 2015 10:59:07 GMT -5 NancysSummerSip said:

Jan 26, 2015 10:55:52 GMT -5 ArchietheDragon said:

We may not make it.   

Archie, you have little kids. You survive that, you can survive anything.

On a serious note, y'all take care in that region. This storm sounds serious. I have family in the NYC and Baltimore areas and friends in CT, and this all looks just fugly.

The real question is if they kids will survive! ;-) Good thing archie's not snipped yet!