Update from Celia/Meneleth
I received an email from Celia
meneleth today; I had emailed several times to see how things were and one of them finally got through. She asked me to post this as an update to all of you to let you know how things are up there in Buffalo, NY. If she has anyone on her flist that isn't on mine, which is quite likely, would you direct them here? I will leave this post public for that reason. Thank you.
Just a short note to say that we are surviving. BUFFALO COPES. That should be the motto around here. I'm at work - amazingly, Buffalo has power, but most of the suburbs (including Tonawanda) are out. We have a small generator so were able to keep the basement dry, and with the fireplace we kept the main floor of the house at 55-58 degrees. We've been sleeping in the living room, and Meghan has been telling us campfire stories that she knows from Girl Scout camp at night. I spent one night, when the sump pump quit, hand-bailing the sump pump hole into the laundry sinks to drain every 40 minutes. Fortunately Dennis managed to get the sump pump working yesterday when he got home from work. He's had to go to work every day, so I've been keeping the house going. He's home for the day today so I came to work. My Dad is staying with us until power is back and of course Meghan is home from school. Last night our neighbor invited us to hook our furnace to his big generator so we were finally able to get warm. (Meghan wants to make T-shirts that say "Got Power?" on the front, and "I survived the Buffalo snowstorm of October 2006" on the back.)
The destruction is nearly undescribable. Very little damage to homes, but there is literally practically not one single tree that has not sustained damage to some degree. Our street, like so many others, is piled 6-8 feet high on both berms for the length of the street with branches. It is unreal. Even after clean-up this place will never look the same again.
Would you do me a favor? Would you post this at LJ as an update from me? I don't know when I'll be online again. I won't be back to work until power is back at home, as I can't leave my Dad alone and can't ask Meghan to watch over him. Power is returning a little at a time, so we are hoping our turn will be soon. Meanwhile, we are warm, dry, have food and each other. We count our blessings at every meal - it hasn't been (still isn't) fun, but we are okay and we thank God for that daily.
Hope all that made sense. I'm still pretty tired and not at my best typing.
meneleth today; I had emailed several times to see how things were and one of them finally got through. She asked me to post this as an update to all of you to let you know how things are up there in Buffalo, NY. If she has anyone on her flist that isn't on mine, which is quite likely, would you direct them here? I will leave this post public for that reason. Thank you.
Just a short note to say that we are surviving. BUFFALO COPES. That should be the motto around here. I'm at work - amazingly, Buffalo has power, but most of the suburbs (including Tonawanda) are out. We have a small generator so were able to keep the basement dry, and with the fireplace we kept the main floor of the house at 55-58 degrees. We've been sleeping in the living room, and Meghan has been telling us campfire stories that she knows from Girl Scout camp at night. I spent one night, when the sump pump quit, hand-bailing the sump pump hole into the laundry sinks to drain every 40 minutes. Fortunately Dennis managed to get the sump pump working yesterday when he got home from work. He's had to go to work every day, so I've been keeping the house going. He's home for the day today so I came to work. My Dad is staying with us until power is back and of course Meghan is home from school. Last night our neighbor invited us to hook our furnace to his big generator so we were finally able to get warm. (Meghan wants to make T-shirts that say "Got Power?" on the front, and "I survived the Buffalo snowstorm of October 2006" on the back.)
The destruction is nearly undescribable. Very little damage to homes, but there is literally practically not one single tree that has not sustained damage to some degree. Our street, like so many others, is piled 6-8 feet high on both berms for the length of the street with branches. It is unreal. Even after clean-up this place will never look the same again.
Would you do me a favor? Would you post this at LJ as an update from me? I don't know when I'll be online again. I won't be back to work until power is back at home, as I can't leave my Dad alone and can't ask Meghan to watch over him. Power is returning a little at a time, so we are hoping our turn will be soon. Meanwhile, we are warm, dry, have food and each other. We count our blessings at every meal - it hasn't been (still isn't) fun, but we are okay and we thank God for that daily.
Hope all that made sense. I'm still pretty tired and not at my best typing.