Blizzard 2013: Snow, Sinking Boats and Cookies
Sure enough, Tom and Nancy saved the day.
Well, turns out it was a good thing we stayed down here on the boat. But before we get to that, here’s the scene at the marina Friday afternoon, just as snow was beginning to accumulate. Life was easy, we were warm and having a good time.
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- Sunshine before the storm hit.
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- we could still see out the companionway friday afternooon
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- Tom demonstrates the difficulty of walking into the wind.
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- parking lot early in the day
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- marina scene early in the afternoon
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- dock before the storm hit
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- Wind picking up and beginning to shove Sunshine around.
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- Mexican rug and flip flops – the boat was still warm and cozy friday evening.
The power went out about midnight, changing everything.
We had cabin lights but our only heat was from our alcohol stove and oven – so I baked cookies. Because as the safety folks say, you never want to use your oven for heating your domicile. But you always want cookies. Besides, it was my fault we didn’t borrow Jesse’s propane garage heater. I didn’t think we’d need it – I WAS WRONG.
We went out and walked the docks to see what was happening, the outer ones were bucking around pretty good. Tom shoveled snow off the decks and out of the cockpit three times. Then, surprisingly, we slept through the worst of it. Turning the bow into the wind made a lot of difference in Sunshine’s motion. But also, having no light to read and not wanting to use up battery watching a movie, we just crashed.
Scenes from a post blizzard morning
I took a walk through the neighborhood to see what was what.
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- Sunshine looks cold.
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- Though cleared several times, Sunshine is still buried.
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- The drift beside one boat.
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- Another interesting snow drift on the dock
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- Sway, a neighboring boat, under a coat of snow.
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- The New England Divers boat has a snow load
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- The ice floes appeared to be color matched to the apartment building.
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- interesting shapes of floating ice
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- small ice berg
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- Stalagmites at sea.
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- closeup of strange stalagmite
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- the marina after the blizzard
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- high tide put a lot of grass into the ice (Tom Bartlett pic)
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- The strength of branding, or something. The ice machine gets drifted, the Coke machine remains clear.
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- The path to the marina. (Color added for visibility.)
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- post blizzard street scene
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- This is a main highway through town. Governor Patrick banned non-essential driving.
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- Iconic New England church in the snow
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- Snow blower clearing walk
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- Snow blower sends up a cloud
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- Residents shoveling walks
These two were digging a path to their car. Note to self: when blizzard threatens, make sure to park close to street.
And here’s a guy who has priorities. Even when it snows two feet and the Governor bans driving, and the power goes out and everything’s closed down, you gotta sag.
The Saving the Day Part
The afternoon was full of heroics. Our personal heros were Jesse and Stacey, who have all wheel drive, and brought us the heater I’d poo pooed so that we could be warmer during our second night without heat.
Meanwhile, Tom was out taking pictures and ran across a boat was sinking. When the power went out and the heater quit working, the float switch froze and the bilge pump didn’t come on. Tom helped the owner bail for hours.
Sinking boat (Tom Bartlett pic)
Sinking boat (Tom Bartlett pic)
I got on the phone and called Jerry, owner of another boat we were keeping an eye on, to see if he had a generator or gas powered pump aboard. He didn’t, but he had ideas. We both called around until hero Jerry found a guy at his yacht club who had pumps. Just about dark Mike showed up with his pump and saved the day.
Then, as I was cooking dinner, thinking I would be feeding at least three frozen men, the lights came back on! So the really big heros at the power company came through just in time to give us back our electric heat and lights.
Blizzards are exhausting, we fell into bed and slept for ten hours.
miss those nor’easters real bad!
now THAT is proper winter!
c
ps: having difficulty emailing you… keeps bouncing back (both email addys)
Hi Corinna, thanks for commenting!
I agree, this is a proper winter. While I’d love to be in the tropics, whenever I’m there in winter – especially at Christmas or New Year’s Day – I experience complete disorientation.
Your email reached me just fine, I’m flattered by your comments, awed by your creativity and looking forward to having you along as obedient ballast really soon.
Best address is tidallife at gmail dot com.
Love you – Nancy