Frankenstorm!!!

Edgewater Beach -- the calm before the Frankenstorm

We’re due for a ‘Frankenstorm,’ as everyone from Scientific American to Fox News (NO linky for them!) have been calling it.

Yep, another Storm of the Century!!!! (a term once more of less true, now hyperbole) is due our way by Tuesday.

A fabola analogy from Climate guy Dr. Gerald Meehl:

Think of it like this Dr. Meehl said: "Barry Bonds had a certain average level of home run production in his baseball career before he started allegedly taking steroids.  Once he started taking performance enhancers, his home run production increased, and he set the single season record for home runs in 2001. Now he holds the all-time record for the most home runs.  If we watched Bonds hit any one of these home runs, would we be able to say that it was directly caused by his steroid use? “No, that’s impossible. But the odds of him hitting one are much higher; his base state has changed.”

So climate change has caused a similar shift of the odds in the atmosphere that will cause more extreme events to occur than if no such alteration existed.  But all of this isn’t to say  that extreme events occur only because of climate change.  Climate change is increasing the frequency and intensity of extreme events, not their presence in the first place."

So then, every year or three instead of once in a hundred years. This is gonna stress our organic rocket ship, earth, and its hairless monkey passengers (that'd be us, tx) right the fuck out.

Read more at The Green Miles -- he’s got some fine pieces up on this. Of course.

What do we, the citizens of Valhalla by the Sea do during mega storms with the inevitable power outages?

During last year’s winter storm, when many areas lost power for more than a week, we were lucky to only be without for a few days.

I’ve probably already mentioned that Jen and Oni live next door to us -- our houses connected via subterranean passageway (WAY cool, eh!). There was no heat or electricity and no reports or estimations as to when we’d have them back. We all wore layer upon layer  -- sweaters, our Polertec vests, gloves, scarves and even hats as it quickly became chilly inside our humble seaside homes.

Jen and Oni have an electric stove -- Bob and I, gas. Our stovetop worked but not the oven. What we all did each evening for dinner was gather in our kitchen, heat up soup and/or our varied leftovers for a magnificent smörgåsbord.

We played Scrabble by candlelight and then retired to our respective down comforter wrapped, toasty beds. There, mega thanks to Jen and Oni’s otherwise curious camping habit, we had those awesome little headlamps, we were able to read, as is the evening habit for us all.

So, we’re prepared now for this year’s Frankenstorm effects. We have batteries, candles, much soup, there will be reheatable leftovers, I’ve got Sherman Alexie’s latest Blasphemy: New and Selected Stories, as well as Christopher Moore’s, Sacre Bleu.

Yeah sure, it all sounds cozy FOR A DAY. Here’s hoping that our tremendous gov, Deval Patrick’s, words to the utility companies have been well heeded.