Frankenstorm Watch - Sunday Morning Update

post from DemConWatch on 28 October 2012 07:47:01 AM. © DemConWatch

Although the storm is not due to "hit" until much later, already the rain has started here in Chester County, PA. Last I heard, Sandy has grown from 700 miles across to 1,000 miles.

Yesterday, between fielding our canvassers and phone bankers, we talked about what we would be doing later today, and at what point we'd pull our canvassers. Since I'm proud of what we did, know that yesterday our people went to 1,475 houses and made 1,528 phone calls, all from 2 staging locations.

The last major storm to hit my neighborhood was Floyd in 1999. I was out of town on business (unbelievably in a worse part of Floyd) and my sitter called to tell me that lightening had struck and the phones no longer worked. (We all had landlines back then.) All I cared about was "is everyone okay?????" - I knew I could buy new phones. Lightening had hit a power something on my block - people lost refrigerators, televisions -- just stuff. One house had a tree crash into it, but amazingly the house held, although the neighbor couldn't use his front door until the tree was removed.

I thought about that through my sleepless night last night. The trees are much bigger now. I also thought of DCW community member Leah, who lives in Texas. A few years ago a storm (I don't remember which one) was going to hit her neighborhood, and she posted that she was about to lose power. It was days before she posted pictures of running an extension cord from the house across the street to her house...I have never met Leah, nor spoken with her, and yet I felt a severe worry (if you're a Jewish mother you understand "severe worry") for Leah and her friends and family. I know we will lose power here, and am prepared as possible for when that happens. Still, my personal fear is palpable. I worry for my 20 month old puppy, Fiona. She was born with visual acuity problems. She is not blind, but has a lot of trouble in the dark. Her behaviour indicates she knows something is coming, and she is fearful. I foresee a lot of "deposits" in the area where she was paper trained, but I'm ready with newspapers, and I can always get a new floor.

This morning I'm meeting my committee person for breakfast to nail down the final details for election day and pick up all my election day supplies (signs, tables, handouts, etc.) Then off to field canvassers for as long as possible, then putting everyone on the phones, in addition to the phone bank people who'll already be there.

I hope that tomorrow morning, I'll be able to post great numbers from today's work. I know the numbers will be tabulated, but whether I can get online is something I just don't know. As of this writing, they are not planning on shutting down my workplace, and we have generators, so if I can get there, you might see a post from my phone, likely replete with spelling errors since the screen is so small!

I know we have a lot of DCW community members within Sandy's path, and I keep a kind thought for all. While I am concerned about what the damage means for Election Day, my more immediate concern is that there is no loss of life. Remember, you can always get more stuff. Good luck to all!