Thank goodness, CE! I know you're relieved...

I wonder, could you possibly purchase one of those portable propane heaters for her at Home Depot, like this Mr. Heater Tag-a-long, and arrange for it to be shipped to her?

I haven't tried this sort of thing with Home Depot, but I know Walmart can get things to us in just a couple of days?

That Mr. Heater product came to mind because I've wanted to get one for our household. They're reputed to be very safe and I see that the product has received good reviews at the HD site?

(Afterthought: If gasoline is scarce up there, those gallon cans of propane might be, too. HD sells those, as well, I think.)

Also, since I mentioned having used Walmart's ship-to-store service previously, they carry the Coleman Black Cat and Sport Cat propane heaters, which are less pricey and may also be used indoors.

I KNOW Walmart could have one with her name on it, in her local store, in just a couple of days (or less).

Glad she's ok. Sorry she's having to deal with so much ick.

Tamara, it was a HUGE relief getting through. I forgot to mention that she has been keeping her cell phone off most of the time, only turning it on for a short time, to conserve the battery. Only problem with that is no one knew her on/off schedule!

thanks for the links, Tamara. I will definitely check it out. If it can be delivered, that would be awesome.

Thank you, too, Rachel.

...she needs a phone charger for her car, too!

Another Walmart ship-to-store order???

Thanks for the report and happy to hear your Mom's OK.

Read somewhere they were rationing gas at one gallon per customer. That may have been in NYC, though.

Actually, Tamara, she just needs to move down here, and then no problems! (okay, I'm sure a different set of problems will manifest itself, but hey, she'd be warm, have a working cell phone, etc!)

I keep a five gallon can in the garage. Once a month, around mid-month, I'll pour it into the car and promptly refill it.

Of course, I also have bottled water in in every closet of the house, propane and batteries and matches and lighters to last through Armagedon, candles and oil lamps and crank-style flashlights, four tents, ten or twelve sleeping bags (including "zero degree"), umpteen thermal coolers and jugs, charcoal and propane and Sterno grills/stoves, firewood laid in to last a winter, and yes, guns and ammo.

The "emergency box," a Rubbermaid bin stored in the laundry room closet, is boldly labeled as such. I have a Zip Lock bag attached with strapping tape to its outside front which contains an index card for each room of the house on which I've detailed what sort of emergency supplies may be found where in that room.

I can't very well tell you where the cash stash is, but each of my family members knows.

I just can't abide ill-preparedness, can you?!

I have a plan too. I'll just put my kids on leashes and trudge the half mile or so to Tamara's.

I've already got dog food stashed away for you, darlin'.

Also your 81 mg aspirin.

Oh if there is nothing else in this house, there will be plenty of kibbles.

It's like Fats Waller used to say, "one never knows, do one?"

I had a feeling mom was OK. Rest easy.

If the roads are open UPS is moving packages to affected areas. The local terminal was jamming tonight after two days of relative inactivity. In the event an online purchase were to be delayed, you can buy whatever you think is needed and ship it from the Callahan drive location or any UPS store. I would be more than happy to help you with any logistical needs you may have down to finding out if a UPS delivery vehicle can and is getting to your mother's house on a daily basis. I believe it is two days from here to New York lag time.

Feel free to contact me in my inbox if you need any help along these lines at all. I'm here. It's what I do.

Glad your Mom is okay. I hope she gets electricity back soon. One or two days might be okay for some people. But, I'm guessing it gets cold up there at night.

Never been a fan of portable propane heaters. For some of us, what can go wrong will go wrong.

Never been a fan of portable propane heaters. For some of us, what can go wrong will go wrong.

My family enjoys tent camping, right up through the cooler fall months.

We own one of those Coleman Black Cat heaters--albeit an older design--and have used it overnight in both of our 9 x 12 family-sized tents many times without incident.

I do find that both the older design and the newer design appear to be a tad easy to tip over (although, like I say, ours hasn't), which is why I'd like to "upgrade" to something a little pricier and a little more stable-looking like that Mr. Heater Tag-a-long.

The casing on that Mr. Heater product also appears to protect the unit's heating element a little better than the Coleman design does (although we haven't experienced burning ourselves touching the Coleman product, either).

We've used our Coleman product for over ten years, at least.

Randy, spoke with mom again today, no gas rationing that she knows of or has heard, just NO GAS period. Sandy damaged the refineries in NJ, and they are shut down.

When it rains it pours, and I mean really pours...according to weather channel, a N'or easter is bearing down on the area next week. Meanwhile, I'll be heading up there in a couple of days, bringing supplies to mom, and hopefully just bringing her down here for at least a few weeks. I have no choice but to make this trip, as BIL was diagnosed with an aggressive lung cancer 4 weeks ago and is now in the hospital dying...organs had started shutting down earlier this week.

I'd really like this week to just not have happened.