Tag: Hurricane Sandy

Monday (05-November-2012) — New Jersey

Hurricane Sandy Aftermath: Day Seven — Halloween and a Home Cooked Meal.

Last week the Gubernator canceled Halloween due to Hurricane Sandy. By Gubernator order Halloween was rescheduled for today in Montgomery Township. No one came by, even though I had my Habanero pepper surprises ready to give out. For several years the local trick-or-treat folks stopped by for my hot peppers.

Day 8: ANPAT 12 Day 1 - Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta (David J Mathre)
Day 8: ANPAT 12 Day 1 – Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta (David J Mathre)

I normally don’t do food reviews, but was intrigued by something that I saw at the local grocery store today. The fish department was pretty sparse with fresh fish post Hurricane Sandy, but I did see a Cedar Planked Atlantic Salmon in their frozen display. I took one home (orange & ginger flavored) to try it out. I’ve done salmon on cedar before and liked the taste that cedar smoke can add. I defrosted the salmon on the cedar plank and removed it from its shrink wrapped plastic packaging (image below). I cooked it in my oven per the directions (preheated oven at 425 °F for ~15 minutes). The house filled with the smell of the cedar burning — some smoke, but not enough to set the smoke detectors off. When I took the plank out of the oven, the cedar plank was noticeably burnt/black — but the salmon looked good (image below). The salmon did have a good smoked taste, but was a bit too sweet. When I went back to check the list of ingredients, sugar was #2 after Atlantic Salmon.

Cedar Bay Salmon (before cooking). Image taken with a Leica V-Lux 30 camera. (David J Mathre)
Cedar Bay Salmon (before cooking). Image taken with a Leica V-Lux 30 camera. (David J Mathre)
Cedar Bay Salmon (after cooking). Image taken with a Leica V-Lux 30 camera. (David J Mathre)
Cedar Bay Salmon (after cooking). Image taken with a Leica V-Lux 30 camera. (David J Mathre)

Friday (02-November-2012) — New Jersey

Hurricane Sandy Aftermath: Day 4 — Power Still Out.

Before the power can be restored, there is a lot of cleanup work that needs to be done. One of the transformers that went down has been leaking oil for several days. It is not known if the oil contained PCBs. A PSE&G truck was sent out to put absorbent down to clean up the oil. Unfortunately, at least one driver (in the last image) had been giving the PSE&G worker a hard time because he wasn’t being allowed to drive through the oil and under the downed power lines. The PSE&G folks are working 16 hour days to restore power and need to be acknowledged – not hassled.

Transformer Oil Cleanup. Hurricane Sandy Aftermath in Skillman New Jersey Day 4. Image taken with a Leica V-Lux 30 camera. (David J Mathre)
Transformer Oil Cleanup. Hurricane Sandy Aftermath in Skillman New Jersey Day 4. Image taken with a Leica V-Lux 30 camera. (David J Mathre)
Transformer Oil Cleanup. Hurricane Sandy Aftermath in Skillman New Jersey Day 4. Image taken with a Leica V-Lux 30 camera. (David J Mathre)
Transformer Oil Cleanup. Hurricane Sandy Aftermath in Skillman New Jersey Day 4. Image taken with a Leica V-Lux 30 camera. (David J Mathre)
Transformer Oil Cleanup. Hurricane Sandy Aftermath in Skillman New Jersey Day 4. Image taken with a Leica V-Lux 30 camera. (David J Mathre)
Transformer Oil Cleanup. Hurricane Sandy Aftermath in Skillman New Jersey Day 4. Image taken with a Leica V-Lux 30 camera. (David J Mathre)
Transformer Oil Cleanup. Hurricane Sandy Aftermath in Skillman New Jersey Day 4. Image taken with a Leica V-Lux 30 camera. (David J Mathre)
Transformer Oil Cleanup. Hurricane Sandy Aftermath in Skillman New Jersey Day 4. Image taken with a Leica V-Lux 30 camera. (David J Mathre)

Thursday (01-November-2012) — New Jersey

Hurricane Sandy Aftermath: Day 3. Power Still Out.

Power went out again. PSE&G says it could be a week or more before everyone has power restored. I’ve moved back into my RV (White Ram). I should have enough diesel and propane for several days. I also have about 40 gallons of water. Before I retired, the Safeway stores in PA closed and I bought a lot of food for an emergency. Looks like I will get to use it.

Hurricane Sandy Aftermath in Skillman New Jersey Day 3. Image taken with a Leica V-Lux 30 camera. (David J Mathre)
Hurricane Sandy Aftermath in Skillman New Jersey Day 3. Image taken with a Leica V-Lux 30 camera. (David J Mathre)
Hurricane Sandy Aftermath in Skillman New Jersey Day 3. Image taken with a Leica V-Lux 30 camera. (David J Mathre)
Hurricane Sandy Aftermath in Skillman New Jersey Day 3. Image taken with a Leica V-Lux 30 camera. (David J Mathre)
Hurricane Sandy Aftermath in Skillman New Jersey Day 3. Image taken with a Leica V-Lux 30 camera. (David J Mathre)
Hurricane Sandy Aftermath in Skillman New Jersey Day 3. Image taken with a Leica V-Lux 30 camera. (David J Mathre)
Hurricane Sandy Aftermath in Skillman New Jersey Day 3. Image taken with a Leica V-Lux 30 camera. (David J Mathre)
Hurricane Sandy Aftermath in Skillman New Jersey Day 3. Image taken with a Leica V-Lux 30 camera. (David J Mathre)
Hurricane Sandy Aftermath in Skillman New Jersey Day 3. Image taken with a Leica V-Lux 30 camera. (David J Mathre)
Hurricane Sandy Aftermath in Skillman New Jersey Day 3. Image taken with a Leica V-Lux 30 camera. (David J Mathre)
Hurricane Sandy Aftermath in Skillman New Jersey Day 3. Image taken with a Leica V-Lux 30 camera. (David J Mathre)
Hurricane Sandy Aftermath in Skillman New Jersey Day 3. Image taken with a Leica V-Lux 30 camera. (David J Mathre)
Hurricane Sandy Aftermath in Skillman New Jersey Day 3. Image taken with a Leica V-Lux 30 camera. (David J Mathre)
Hurricane Sandy Aftermath in Skillman New Jersey Day 3. Image taken with a Leica V-Lux 30 camera. (David J Mathre)
Hurricane Sandy Aftermath in Skillman New Jersey Day 3. Image taken with a Leica V-Lux 30 camera. (David J Mathre)
Hurricane Sandy Aftermath in Skillman New Jersey Day 3. Image taken with a Leica V-Lux 30 camera. (David J Mathre)

30-October-2012

Hurricane Sandy Aftermath.

Around midnight the wind and rain subsided. No power, but I could hear multiple generators running. Once it was light out I went out to survey the damage. A few trees in the yard were down or lost large branches, but less damage than from Hurricane Irene.

I was lucky as the power came back on at 8 AM. Most of my neighbors are still running on generators, when I checked found that I was one of two houses that had power. I set up a free cell phone charging station at my front door. Cell phone & internet signals are weak and intermittent. I gave 2 gallons of gas to a neighbor with a generator.

When I checked the basement, I only found a small amount of water. I did see a lot of house centipedes (Scutigera Coleoptrata) and crickets. Also, the mouse/rat poison trays were empty.

Hurricane Sandy Aftermath in Skillman New Jersey Day 1. Montgomery Township Fire & Rescue. Image taken with a Leica X2 camera. (David J Mathre)
Hurricane Sandy Aftermath in Skillman New Jersey Day 1. Montgomery Township Fire & Rescue. Image taken with a Leica X2 camera. (David J Mathre)
Hurricane Sandy Aftermath in Skillman New Jersey Day 1. Image taken with a Leica V-Lux 30 camera. (David J Mathre)
Hurricane Sandy Aftermath in Skillman New Jersey Day 1. Image taken with a Leica V-Lux 30 camera. (David J Mathre)
Hurricane Sandy Aftermath in Skillman New Jersey Day 1. Image taken with a Leica V-Lux 30 camera. (David J Mathre)
Hurricane Sandy Aftermath in Skillman New Jersey Day 1. Image taken with a Leica V-Lux 30 camera. (David J Mathre)
Hurricane Sandy Aftermath in Skillman New Jersey Day 1. Image taken with a Leica V-Lux 30 camera. (David J Mathre)
Hurricane Sandy Aftermath in Skillman New Jersey Day 1. Image taken with a Leica V-Lux 30 camera. (David J Mathre)
Basement Critters. Image taken with a Leica V-Lux 30 camera. (David J Mathre)
Basement Critters. Image taken with a Leica V-Lux 30 camera. (David J Mathre)
Basement Critters. Image taken with a Leica V-Lux 30 camera. (David J Mathre)
Basement Critters. Image taken with a Leica V-Lux 30 camera. (David J Mathre)
Basement Critters. Image taken with a Leica V-Lux 30 camera. (David J Mathre)
Basement Critters. Image taken with a Leica V-Lux 30 camera. (David J Mathre)