Our Adventure with Sandy

For many north of us on the east coast, Sandy was more than an adventure… it was a catastrophe.  It was devastation.  It was unlike anything I have ever seen first hand or experienced. 

So, I hesitate to even really blog about our adventure… b/c for us… that’s what it was, an adventure.  An escape from the normal day to day living for a few days.  A “Staycation” if you will. 

We heard about Sandy well before she hit MD and we did all we could to prepare.  I baked 2 loaves of bread, baked cookies, stocked up on pasta and sauce, washed all of our clothes and dishes, found flashlights and candles, bought water, filled all the bathtubs with water (so we could flush toilets when the power went out, filled pots and bowls with water for the dog, and for cooking, bought paper plates, and Scott did his very best to try and get our generator working. 

Monday evening around 6:30 the power went out.  With a LOUD pop right before.  We knew that wasn’t going to be just a flicker.  Scott raced downstairs to start hand pumping the sump pump.  Not long after I heard him yell upstairs, “Go next door and ask if we can plug our pump into their generator.”

I grabbed my boots and jacket and the kids cute little firefly lantern and raced next door.   (Thankfully Scott had already pre run the extension cords from the sump pump to the outside incase he had gotten our generator working).  When I raced back to say they said yes, he took off to plug it in and I started bailing.  I made 2 bucket trips outside while he was plugging in and my back was already sore.  I can not imagine if we hadn’t been able to plug in.   After plugging in, Scott brought our gas cans to our neighbor and we settled in for the night.

Once the sump pump was working, we were really fine.  We enjoyed meatball sandwiches and salad by lanternlight for a late dinner.  The kids went down rather easily… the big 3 wanted to have a sleep over in one room.  Scott and I settled in to read books down in the guestroom (which is conveniently right by the sump pump) and all was well.  As the winds picked up, I decided I felt safer having everyone sleep downstairs, so we brought the kids to the basement and settled in for the night…. reading and then being lulled to sleep by the sound of our sump pump working. 

In the morning,  Scott checked in again with our neighbor and since he had plenty of power, we were able to plug in our coffee pot as well.  Priority Number 2 after the Sump Pump. 

We then took a look outside and a walk down our street to check out the hood.

 

The backyard looks like a swamp.  Ever wonder what inches of rain falling down in 24 hrs looks like?

 

We also lost 2 of our pear trees in our front yard.  We expected this.  We all took time to pray and thank God for sparing the third tree.  The kids have deemed it the “climbing tree” and we had been fearful it wouldn’t survive the storm. 

After lunch, we decided to take the kids to Annapolis to see if we could see some high water.   Here is the dock across the river from the Naval Academy.

Here is where I discovered there are holes in my favorite whale rain boots.

As I walked back on the dock, I could see water spraying out the sides with each step. Major bummer as I loved these rain boots. 

The kids had such a fun time running around in the water. 

Until they didn’t.  Then we raced back to the van, stripped off their clothes, cranked up the heat and went home to snuggle in blankets and drink hot cocoa. 

Like I said… for us, it was an adventure.  A mini stay-cation.  We camped out on the floor.  We ate dinner by candle light.  We didn’t lose anything… except the chance to take a shower. 

And now, after about 40 hours, our power is back and life goes back to normal. 

We were very, very fortunate.