Already the questions have begun.
Now I did create a flyer on hurricane preparedness, copied from the township's website, with a reminder to remove all furniture, plants and stuff from the decks by Sunday afternoon.
Tenant(s): “Do we have to evacuate?”
Me: “I don't know yet. Gov. Christie is holding a news conference, we'll know then. Plus, I gave you the emergency preparedness printout from the town’s website.”
Tenant(s): “How will we know if we have to evacuate?”
Me: “When the police loudspeakers say so.”
Tenant: “What should I do if my dog has to go out during the storm?”
(Really, is this the first storm you ever saw?)
Me: “Let it poop in the tub!” (Yes, I said that.)
Later that day, I was on the ground floor, checking the yards, walkways then hauling stuff out from under the stairwells, moving heavy planters off the retaining walls, etc.: In short, I got a real workout.
Mr. I'm-In-Charge: “The stuff under the stairs, it’s safe, it can stay.”
(Really, why does he think that he's my boss and must tell me how to do my job?)
Me: “I have lived here long enough, glass panes, plants and all this stuff will fly thru the air!”
Mr. I'm-In-Charge: “No it’s safe.”
Me: “It will become a wind tunnel down here. MOVE IT ALL!”
Mr. I'm-In-Charge then proceeded to argue about the dirt from the planters (which I just moved) washing out and clogging the drains. He actually lifted one back up to the retaining wall so that he could inspect it.
Sigh. I know, I’m just a girl.
Tenant(s): “Hey, can I come down for coffee during the storm?”
Me thinking: I don't drink, yet, but I know where the booze is, because I may need some!
Me plotting: This is SO going on my blog!
In all fairness, I have often said to tenants and neighbors, “One day I’m writing a book and I am naming names!”
They always laugh, thinking that I am just being dramatic. This may not be a book, but this blog is close enough . . . for now: And one day, it may earn a few $$.
Can't wait to see what this day will bring. Ha!
Sorry fans, I did anticipate that today would be crazy and some good stories to share. I still have memories of Hurricane Irene and how exhaustingly difficult certain tenants and neighbors were: but those people have long since moved on. Whew!
So this morning was spent double-checking the decks, and the empty units to make sure the windows were closed. The rest of the day I cooked up a storm (no pun intended), so if power does go out, we will certainly have some good tasting cold meals. I then re-packed the freezer and filled all empty spaces bottles of water: I will have non-leaky ice for my refrigerated food.
Well tomorrow afternoon, the brunt of the storm will slam onto the Jersey Shore. Already the ocean is so wild, it's ready to devour the coastline. Quite a few people were down there snapping photos, and of course, jogging. I have seen No’easters do some damage, one left the boardwalk like someone had shaken it like one does a hallway rug, utterly twisted for miles with debris everywhere.
The ground floor tenants have repeatedly asked if they will get flooded, and all I can do is advise them to move as much as possible off the floor, particularly electronics. We can't predict a tidal surge.
Other than that: Respect the fury of nature, there is no other choice.
If you’re in the path of this storm, hunker down.
At 8 am the tenants trooped in: I was still asleep. I love company in my jammies. Nothing like a dozen questions, worry and, “Do you have a smoke? Is there coffee made?” So they all left, and yeah, it doesn’t look too good.
The ‘Go Bag’ is packed.
Tote bags are ready to be filled with food.
Towns north and south of us have mandatory evacuation—but not us?
Parking lot is nearly empty, many tenants have left, lucky them.
Ocean hasn’t breached the dunes yet. High Tide later tonite.
At 1:35 Firetrucks blasted sirens and warned evacuation of Ocean Avenue. That road runs parallel to the ocean. We are 3 buildings UP from that road. We are not being evacuated.
First wave of tenants from ground floor are now camped out up with us, and their hyper Jack Russell Terrier.
Have a laugh: Someone just drove by in a pickup truck, with a burgundy lounge chair in the back! Like this is the perfect day to move furniture? Or does he want a comfy chair to watch the hurricane roll by? Can't make this up.
4:45 pm We have had several mini power outages, unfortunately, I was working on this post when it happened, when I rebooted and went back to this file, ALL my HTML was changed! All paragraph marks were changed to line break marks. Even the earlier sections were changed. It was tedious putting it all back. Must check rest of stories, and yes, another story was also corrupted and that story was posted days ago!
The wind is scary. I had to change sneakers for traction on the decks. When I hit the outside stairwell, I had to hold on, the gusts are that strong. The sand dunes are collapsing, but so far, no water on the boardwalk. The boardwalk is 8' above the sand.
Part of our roof has blown off. I have a massive headache. Can't wait for tomorrow!
Tenants called. One storm door flew open and pane of glass was blown out, but didn't shatter. Showed her how to tie a storm door shut with a cloth ribbon (tie it to the outside storm door handle, pull it thru, shut door, wrap ribbon around door knob. voile!)
Other ground floor tenant asked if they flood, may they camp in empty 3rd floor unit. Ran up and unlocked door and turned heat on. There is no room left in this apartment for anymore visitors!
Post your storm stories.
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