As we work hard to remove leaves and prepare our house for this potentially”once in a lifetime” Frankenstorm, a convergence of Hurricane Sandy from the east, and an arctic storm from the west, Pennsylvania has preemptively declared a state of emergency to prepare for power outages that may last a week or more.
We came home for the weekend to give the house-sitters a break and stock them with firewood, clear leaves and clean up any areas that might be a problem when the storms hit Monday night. We have a lot of seasoned logs about, to move to the woodshed area and chop, and we have a lot of downed trees and logs to chainsaw and put in a staging area. The woodshed will hopefully be well-stocked by the time we’re through.
I thought you would enjoy a little look at our house as it appears each autumn. When you live in the woods, trees are always a danger. Many people clear trees within a certain distance of their home, which makes it far less likely that they might have a family of squirrels suddenly catapulted into their living room, along with the oak they were living in.
In fact, my in-laws had that exact scenario (sans squirrels) with a large poplar tree as they were sitting to dinner on year. It practically split their home in two.
We’ve considered it, but we try to just be conscientious of the health of the trees, the age of the trees, and hope we’re good enough tree stewards to take the weak ones down to reduce the chances. Because we like to live in the woods…not in a clearing.
That said, I take a lot of photos, especially before winter storms, because you never know.
If you live in the northeast, or anywhere bracing for a storm right now, I hope you’re stocked up and have an emergency plan for your family.
As I’m making arrangements and prepping the house, Kurt is spending his second day off working out scenarios to prepare for at the power plant job he’s on now.
Are you a planner for regular storms, for “Frankenstorms” or worst-case scenarios? What do you do? I’d love to hear your tips and thoughts if this is going to be “the storm of a lifetime”?
Love, Sasquatch
