Winter Storm Gail Preps

We're expecting Winter Storm Gail tomorrow and into Thursday. Around 12-18" of snow is expected. 

So, we've prepped the gas for the snow blower.

The husband has yet to start up the snow blower. Sigh. I do not know why he keeps putting it off,... in  any case, it'll be more of his problem if it doesn't start up tomorrow. 

Separately, I picked up a portable heater and a four-pack of propane cylinders. I've actually been itching to get my hands on a portable inverter generator from harbor freight but this was an easier decision (cheaper too!).  

We may still get the generator at some point but that's a whole different conversation.

Meanwhile, I've got to make sure that our rechargeable batteries are charged and that our camp lamps are ready. 

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Edit: The husband found the snow blower manual and we got the snow blower up and running and by "we", I really mean him =) 

It works. 

The engine sounds loud. Hope it also means it is powerful.

and yes, the plastic wrap is still there, we haven't used it yet. Hopefully, we'll actually get to use it tomorrow. Whohooo!

 

Tribeca

Had a big scare last night. 

We had driven to our fave bubble tea place in Montclair and was on our way to McDonald's (a treat for our kid) when the Tribeca started sputtering, seemed to have lost power, lost the driving lights  and later, stopped working. Thankfully, we had enough momentum to pull over to the side when it eventually lost all power altogether, I am also thankful that despite it being a busy street, there were no cars behind us when we lost power.

If you can think of movies where an EMP goes off and the entire power grid - everything that runs on computers or has power - basically just shutting down and dying ? That's how it went with the Tribeca last night.

I immediately called AAA to ask for assistance, told them we were on the side of a dark but busy road, no streetlights, the street had no shoulder and we had no lights at all - the emergency lights weren't working. AAA gave us priority because of the situation. AAA does come to the rescue in around 5 minutes, guy loads up the Tribeca on his flatbed and we ask to have it towed home. Meanwhile, the 3 of us took an Uber home. Swe-cha was so well-behaved, he made us so proud!

Super thankful: 

- that God kept us safe and prevented accidents

- that Swe-cha coped really well with the situation 

- that while hubby goes to the office 2 days a week, I do work from home full time till June 2021. Swe-cha is doing remote schooling so technically, can really share 1 car for now (no pressure to get a replacement). 

So far, theories for what happened last night revolve around a bad battery, dirty / bad battery terminals or a bad alternator. If it's the batttery or terminals, we'll get this replaced. If it's the alternator, we'll have to look for a replacement.