Not Nice!

It's not looking like a nice time for anyone on the east side of things.

Hope this storm hooks the other way away from land.

Best wishes to those in the path.

Here in NC

Here in NC where myself and Ken live its not bad at all.  Not sure about what the folks on the coast of NC are experiencing though.  Ken and I just left Selma NC which is about 2 hours from the coast and all that I can report from there is........ its windy! 

Frankenstorm is starting to hit as I write this.

You may have noticed the name this storm has gotten, buts its not funny as most of us, at least in Fresh Meadows, Queens seem to feel that we don't what's coming because the weather promisses to get worse with the worst coming Monday afternoon, It's windy already but so far no rain. Tomorrow is garbage collection day so most of us put our garbage out without our cans. Hopefully it will get collected early but that is anybodiy's guess right now. Of course it could be alot worse.but so far no snow is expected.

I just hope all of us survive this without to much damage or inconvenience.

Irv

Glad to here

from a few so far that things aren't that bad. I won't worry to much about the garbage. I'd be more worried about no power. Not much fun in the cold.

Bernd

DC is ready

Federal government is pretty much shut down as are all the schools around here.  we may not it as bad as the NYC area, but no one is taking any chances.

Personally we cleared the ayrd and porch; cleaned out the gutters, and stocked up on food and ice above our normal Hurricane Box (and yes, as a Gulf Coast transplant I still have one).  Our house is as ready as it can be.  We'll see about the local power company.

...

Best wishes to all of you!

Yeah this storm could be a

Yeah this storm could be a bit strange. They are talking up to 25ft high waves on some of the great lakes even.

So this is a wait and see what really happens type storm.

Good luck folks.

-Doug M 

Storm watch

Up here in Rochester, New York area it's raining and slightly windy.

Hang in there guys.

Bernd

It's geting very windy now.

It's 9:10 AM here as I write and the winds are starting to pick up. It's raining and I can here the gusts of wind through my .office walls. It was calmer last night and there wasn't any rain. But all of that's changed. But so far so good. No water in the basement and the garbage I put out last night was either picked up early or got blown away. Either way I don't have to worry about it.

At this point all services are up and and running. The public schools, MTA and lots of companies are shut down. Aside from the fact that no one can use public transportation since it isn't running, None of the cars in the neighborhood seem to have been moved. It's a good thing that no one has to go anywhere (as if there were anywhere to go). Even Macy's on 34th and Broadway is closed so I guess we'll all watch TV. I've got two movies from Netflix I want to watch and I can go downstairs and work on the layout as well. So I don't lack for anything to do.

So keep warm and dry and be safe.

Irv from NYC

I lost power yesterday,

so today I am using my oldest sons computer to see hwt has happened since yesterday on the internet and especially at MRH. We don't know when the  power will return. Of course the mayor and Con ed are no help but that is they way things go here in the Big Rotten Apple. Nothing ever works as expected.

I amp not about to move out as no place else is any better these days when politicians only care abut getting elected and don't really care to do anything for those who voted for them.

In any case without power and working phone lines there is nothing I can do on my layout. I wish we had power so It could lay tracks and make it so that I can at least run some trains for a change. That would let me do something useful instead of complainiing about the useless politicians who have made everything not work in this city.powered by graft and ingratitude.

Stepping off my stool for political sounding off.

Irv

We survived, but...

We survived , but I can't say the same for everyone. There are lots of folks who lost everything evn her in NYC and the suburbs which can best be described as disaster areas.

We ourselves lost power last Monday and have been without power and the Internet. Yeah, I know we are alive and no one suffered the loss of everything we owned but try living in a house without any electricity and heat. It was cold and last night the temperatures actually went down to 34 degrees fahrenheit. In case you are wodering how I am posting this, its from my office computer in Staten Island. Yes the college has power and the Staten Island expressway is good condition (even if it is under repair and modification.).

I won't be model railroading primarily because we have had out electricity and heat restored temporarily because Con Ed has to rebuild the transformer that powers the area we live in and that should happen over the weekend unless the Nor'easter we are expecting tomorrow does significant damage to the trees that are still standing on chicken legs and they come down and take whatever power lines Con Ed was able to restore with them.

BTW, the Nor'easter isn't as powerful as Sandy was but it doesn't have to be, 55MPH winds can do significant damage to areas that are still in recovery mode and there are lots of those areas that are in that condition.

Irv

Nor'easter on top of Sandy

Wednesday evening we got a Nor'easter on top of Sandy. Power went out again and yesterday Con Ed kept turning it on and off again because the power pole is leaning and stretching the wires. It was also reported that FEMA shut down its operations just before the Nor'easter hit which naturally angered a number of people especially those in Staten Island. I spent yesterday cleaning the snow off my car and today I came to work as you can tell since I am posting this message. The roads are pretty clear but one still has to dodge the fallen branches which are still blocking some roads. It isn't as bad as it was on Tuesday.

Still given the fact that we seem to have survived the Frankenstorm and it's nasty follow up many of us have lot's to be thankful for. But many in the Long Island area probably won't get power back until Thanksgiving if then. As Gov. Cuomo said yesterday, the power companies don't have their customers best interests at heart. They live in comfortable homes with power and heat and they could give a flying crap about their customers. The same could be said about the current crop of politicians too, but they can be voted out of office unlike the power companies management.

Irv

Almost back to normal except . . .

Almost back to normal except for gas lines and no internet.

At least you can get gas here. I waited a few minutes yesterday so I could get $40.00 worth of gas in my car yesterday. You see in NYC the mayor (Dumberg) decided it would be a good idea to only allow you get gas only if you had a license plate ending in an odd number on odd days of the month and ending in an even number of even days of ther month. Sure it made lines shorter, but it didn't solve the problem which was created by Dumberg to begin with since he wouldn't allow the tankers containing the fuel to dock in the harbor anywhere near the fuel terminals as the fuel might spill in the water and he didn't want to drink the water (as if he does with all his money.) My license ends in in an even number and so does my wife's.

The second problem is going to be harder to fix since Time-Warner tells me nothing wrong with the system even though my cable box doesn't display the right time nor does allow me to change it. At the same time it has knocked out my TV set and DVD/VCR player as well. They claim that's not their problem but that is not the way I see it. But them the head of Time-Warner hasn't got a problem as he is insulated from Frankenstorms and power outages and he gets service anytime he wants it unlike the rest of us shmose who have to pay through the nose to get it.

So here I am typing this at work again.

Irv

Back to normal as Internet is back.

Things seem to have returned to normal and this will be my last entry in this thread.

It has been a long haul dealing with no Internet except what I could get at work and at my son's homes. It hasn't been easy nor has it been inexpensive either. We lost food when the power went out and we haven't gotten any reimbursement yet. Sure Con Ed said they we could get up to $450.00 from them but we've got to send them photos of the spoiled food and grocery receipts. But who keeps spoiled stuff around anyway? Most of it has been thrown out, but ther is still stuff in the refridgerators downstairs and in the garage. We are going to photograph it but let me tell you the stuff smells awful even though power has been on for a couple of days now.

We also seem to have some structural damage to the house as well. It is mostly a loss of leaders and damage to the back door that leads onto the deck in back and to one window. It seems we had a shade that could be pulled down to provide some way of opening that window and not have the sun shine in. Well the supports for the shad have been sort of destroyed. so it is just hanging there. We have to submit photos to our insurance company who will then forward them to FEMA. Who known how much we'll get if anything.

The basement didn't flood and there is little damage there that I an see.

Now if only NYC would send my wife her money so tat we can actually get around to paying the bills that have accumulated since she hasn't gotten paid since August!

It is now November and our creditors are being very patient at the moment but who knows how much longer they'll be patient.

Irv

Good News

Glad to hear your almost back to normal. Seems like you were the only one keeping us up to what was happening. Thanks Irv and I hope you make out OK in the end.

Bernd