"Wow did you ever call it" - I cringed as soon as I saw your forecast. We don't get a lot of snow down here, but we get LOTS of ice. It's worse when there's leaves up, but even after all the leaves have fallen a good ice storm will have the same effect. That's why CL&P clear cuts a vertical path over all their wires. We don't have those beautiful green tunnels over the roads any more, but it enormously mitigates the damage during the ice storms when the branches start coming down. I'm frantically trying to find a tree guy to clear our power supply lines before ice season.

I'm figuring that I'll get a generator and run it the way my father always does - you use the woodstove for heat, battery-powered lanterns for light (and I stock pile batteries like only the New England child of Minnesota parents can), and you turn on the generator only when you need to run the well pump. Frugal? Us? Noooo. :-)

By the way, I read your post about the aquarium pump to Bob, who is as impressed by your inventiveness as I was. On the drive to barony meeting last night he kept shaking his head and muttering "aquarium pump..."

We're almost cleared out of the apartment - we're working from the top down. The attic is empty. The spare bedroom is empty. Tonight our bedroom will be empty. I think that we'll be completely out by the end of this weekend. Then I can concentrate on *un*packing. I have no idea where my dishes are right now. Thank goodness for paper plates and take-out!