Still shakin' but we're here....

Ohio Goziamus! On this day 5 after the quake we've awoken to about a half foot of snow and are once again extremely thankful for all we have. We had another strongish aftershock in the middle of the night, but we're still here. We are running on limited resources now, but we're still currently powered and we have heat and water. They are conducting rolling blackouts but they are a minor inconvenience compared to not having any heat for 2 full days. Since our port and the neighboring bigger port was wiped out, we apparently have no kerosene to heat our (off-base) houses for awhile, so what we've got (just under 3 quarters a tank) is what we'll get for awhile. The great news is that I've figured out how to make my AC unit produce heat instead (I found the right button and kanji character!) and was able to snag one of the few space heaters left at the BX yesterday. As long as we keep electricity, we should be fine. We're also on finite propane for our stove and hot water but we have the microwave and gas and charcoal grills for food, and Hannah Jane's thrilled to be showering with mommy once again to save water.

And the house is shaking again....and shaking.....aaaannnnnddd ...it's stopped.

Where was I? So we're living out of two rooms (sleeping together with -- thank you, Rick!-- an electric mattress pad) and doing just fine. We've been told to send our kids back to school tomorrow but I'm not sure who's going to show up giving there's also finite car gas. There have been long lines on base which I've not yet joined because they asked us not to fill up until we were at a half a tank or less. So now I'm there, and just this morning they've changed it to "a quarter tank or less." There are no plans for an evacuation at this time, the base commander said this morning on a briefing on the radio. The Japanese AND American government both state there is no danger to any American military base (including us) at this time given the nuclear reactor situation. Still there are small mumblings about more concern with the shortages of supplies, so Rick has just now forwarded me the "NEO" packet which has all the information and suggested "take with you" items, JUST IN CASE. Again, there's no talk of evacuation at this point, but we're preparing just in case.

So I'm heading back out to the commissary to help a friend out before the black-out, and then we'll probably hang out on base to get some socializing and maybe even some exercise before coming home (the indoor play areas are closed of course with the base running on now 40%, so we'll take our snow stuff and maybe play outside for a bit). Will keep you posted.....

And we're now shaking again......but we're doing fine!!
Love and thanks, Mary