Still alive

Have you ever stood next to a train as it raced past you? That's exactly what the wind sounded like on Monday night: like a train going through our yard. I've never heard anything like it. It was the most terrifying sound I've ever heard.

Our hatches were battened down best we could batten them, and we weathered the storm in relative safety and comfort. Rain came down in sheets for a little while in the afternoon, then was replaced by the insane wind. Power came back after an hour, but it didn't last. We lost power for good around 8pm, just as Sandy was making landfall at Atlantic City. Sophie didn't really notice anything unusual until after she went to sleep, when the white noise machine suddenly went off. After an hour of screaming, I eventually brought her into bed with me. (That was only the second time I had ever slept with her, and while it was comforting knowing that she was warm with me, I didn't sleep well with her feet in my neck. I don't envy you co-sleepers. )

We decided yesterday around noon that since the house was getting colder and colder, we should come down to my parents' house in Delaware. Despite being almost under the eye of the storm, they hardly had any damage at all and never lost power. So, we were able to spend the night in a warm bed with hot food in our bellies and light to see by (and working outlets to plug our phones into!).

Before we left got on the highway, we decided to take a quick spin around town to check out the damage. Our house was not bad at all. The worst was that it seemed like every leaf from the trees around us had landed on our property. What was really strange was that they were not whole leaves - they seemed like they had been ripped by small swatches from the trees, shredded as they flew to the ground. But we had it so much better than in town, which is less than a mile away. You guys, oh my gosh. There were pieces of houses like shutters and shingles and siding strewn across lawns, and trees were everywhere. They were across roads, on top of power lines, and *in* some houses. It's amazing that the wrath of this storm missed us so narrowly. 

Here's a photo Hubster took at the grocery store down the street. I don't know why he chose this angle - you can't tell very easily, but that cart return is nearly flattened.

For some reason, The Bump is only letting me add one photo at a time. There are more at planetprinceton.com if you want to see what it looks like around our area. Hubster took some more photos, and will be editing them when we get home and he can get back on his computer; I'll post some here when he does. There are also some pretty incredible photos at planetprinceton.com.

Hubster, Sophie and I were extremely lucky. That shopping cart return was less than half a mile from us, and the damage got worse just down the road. Considering we were only inconvenienced for a couple nights, I'd say we don't have the right to complain about anything. I've just spoken with MIL, who stayed at a friend's house last night, that we just got power back on. I'm actually really shocked at that, because their initial estimate was sometime on November 5. Hubster thinks that it's because we're just down the road from the hospital, and that we may be on the same circuit - we knew that PSEG was working to get power restored to hospitals and fire stations first. Hopefully all the food I made for Sophie is still good in the freezer - before the storm hit I loaded it up with bags of water, and we haven't opened it since, so I'm hoping it retained all the cold.

I hope that those of you who took more of the storm's brunt are doing well, and are safe and warm.