I guess the media got their wish this time, and Hurricane Irene was as bad as they predicted. Our power went out Sunday morning between 5:15 am (when I fed Tiger) and 6:15 am when Jean woke me up to bail water out of the basement. We spent most of Sunday bailing water, about 2" total, which would have been much easier to do if we had power for our water vacuum. Because we rarely needed to use it, we never considered getting a battery backup previously. We also had no water, because we have a well, but we use bottled water for drinking, so we have lots of bottles. I had filled the bathtub with water prior to the storm Saturday night, so we used that for flushing. I also filled a pot with water Saturday night, so I was able to cook macaroni on our gas stove.

Mark & Kate and Alan & Denise both have sump pumps, neither of which have battery backups, so they had to bail water just like we did. Monday night Andy went to Hackettstown, which did not lose power, and bought 5 bags of ice. I put 2 in the refrigerator and 3 in the freezer to delay the ruining of all our food. That turned out to be a good thing to do, since while Jean, Andy, our neighbor Pat and I were eating grilled hamburgers for lunch at 1:00 pm yesterday, I noticed the time was showing on the clock radio. I turned on the power and they all cheered when the music started playing! ☺

Mark & Kate still have no power, but they have city water, so that is unaffected by the power outage. Kate’s parents have a generator, so when they got their power back Sunday evening, they drove to Mark & Kate’s house with it. Now they have their refrigerator and internet connected to it. Their backyard was totally flooded, along with their basement, but that has also receded. Mark cleared the drain in the street in front of their house, which helped the flooding a lot. So while they still do not have lights, at least it is tolerable.

Alan & Denise still do not have power either, so Jean invited them to join Frank & Marilyn and us at an afternoon movie, then dinner at our house. I plan to make chicken & sausage gumbo in the crockpot, but I might also barbecue some additional sausage, plus make a huge salad and a loaf of bread. We might as well clean out some of the freezer since much of it defrosted–although Andy’s ice kept everything cool enough not to be wasted. We will also offer Alan & Denise to take a shower here, or even stay overnight if they wish.

Overall, we had no serious damage, and we kept in touch with Mark, Alan and Pat regularly (people bonding during a crisis, haha), and the food all survived. The only negative was that Sunday night we raised the Aliner, hoping to use the refrigerator which is powered by either gas, battery, or electric. We found water on the floor, and the refrigerator would not turn on. The battery was also drained, which seemed strange since we had never used the battery for anything. Then yesterday we realized the battery was immersed in water. Jean phoned the Aliner dealer who told her to bring in the camper Thursday for evaluation and repairs. Yes, it is all under warranty, but who wants to drive two hours to go there, and will we get it back prior to our planned 9/15 camping trip?