Long day. Its finally stopped about 11PM. 12" here, and probably very close to that at National Airport. Still lots of wind and blowing and drifting, but the skies are now clear. Yesterday, up until about 4am it was a "warm storm" with temps around 32. Its been below 20F since about 8am here. The snow held and held and held on for longer than expected. This was definitely the storm of a lifetime, EVEN IF we had not had the 2 feet here last weekend, just the sheer conditions this storm produced, especially the whiteouts, and the near hurricane force winds along with 4-6 foot drifts, countless downed trees...etc. etc. etc. was a once in a lifetime event here in the Mid Atlantic. However, since we did have 2 feet on the ground already, it was just all the more historic. TZ7, Be safe! I hope you guys dont get it as bad as we did here, especially in terms of the winds. Many of our streets look like the photos you posted, and some were with downed traffic signals. Post more pics if you can! Suffice it to say, all of my palms, including the large trachy in the pot wrapped in plactic and xmas lights, are buried. The in ground palms were buried as of last saturday, and now they are under 3 feet. My smaller trachy unfortunately had spear pull, although that may be more attributed to the fact I left the xmas lights on it one day when we hit 49, and the palm cooked to well over 100F im sure. It somewhat dessicated after that, and has not looked good since. I think these storms just pushed it over the edge. Well see if I cant get it to come back. Ok Im going to bed. Ill post more photos tomorrow. Night all! Be safe.

As far as I can tell, the vast majority of "robber sues homeowner and wins" stories seem to be urban myths. I did study one case in law school where a homeowner was successfully sued, but in that case, he had set up a gun on some sort of automatic trigger connected to the front door of an unoccupied cabin. The court said that this was going too far, taking the chance of killing someone to protect property, rather than life. The basic rule on self-defense is that you have to try to run away rather than use force, if you can do it safely. That basic rule does *not* hold true in your own home. There is no "duty to retreat" in your own home. The other basic rule on self-defense is that you can use only enough force to repel the attack. However, what amount of force is reasonable depends on your duty to retreat. Since you have no duty to retreat inside your home, you can use more force than you would outside your home. As to whether you can use wasp spray as a weapon, I don't know the answer. My best guess would be that if you used it during an attack on the street, the courts would treat it as any other dangerous weapon. If you used it in your home (or car, at least in some states), even if you planned to use it as a weapon, I doubt there would be an issue. The law varies by state. If you want to see what your state thinks about these matters, look up the "castle doctrine," as in "my home is my castle." As a practical matter, I think most people are okay using whatever force they need to protect themselves inside their own homes. And that's even more so for women. Where I could see it getting dicey is if some teenaged kid broke into a house for drug money, having no weapon and thinking the house was unoccupied, tried to run away when he saw someone was home, and the man of the house grabbed him and beat the living s*^t out of the kid. Even then, I'll bet most police officers would tell the kid that he shouldn't have been in the house in the first place. As to whether the man of the house could then be sued, well, of course he could. Some of the castle laws protect people from being sued in these situations, but for the most part, anyone can sue anyone. Can't necessarily win, but can start the suit.

Oh, no Susan--they come home for the night. He walked in at 11:30 last night, and was out of the house before 7 this morning. Today will be the same--they're working at the remote location until about 10 tonight, then he has to drive about an hour and a half back to his office, then it's only a few minutes to our house, thank goodness. At least they let them do their commuting in company cars, on company time. But the nice thing yesterday was that the office they're working out of supplied them with all meals--really NICE catered meals. Even a carving station (turkey and ham) at dinnertime. Sounded like he ate pretty well. Don't know if that's the same today. As to teams from out of state? I haven't heard one way or the other--usually that's the case, though. And sometimes, the guys like DH (meter readers, bill collectors, office workers) are used as 'navigators' to help the out-of-state guys find their way. Yesterday, DH was hanging out by some downed wires, making sure no one walked or drove over them. There are so many that the crews haven't gotten to all of them yet, so they're having guys 'guard' them. Won't know what he was doing today until, oh--closer to midnight? Well, can't complain--his OT for yesterday and today is 2/3 of a mortgage payment. One more day like these and it would pay for the whole month! Although, I'm hoping this won't keep up too much longer--it's rough for a 61 year old man to work 16+ hour days.

"Have you known anyone whose house was broken into during the night?" YES! My SIL was burglarized twice, while she was in bed. Once shortly after she retired for the night, the other time in the wee hours of the morning. And she lives in a residential section that is considered very 'safe'. She says she did the only thing she knew to do, and just stayed very very still, pretending to be soundly asleep. And the police told her that was a wise decision on her part. Don't think I could have done that! Yes I have a phone with me at all times. My smart phone is clipped to my jeans' pocket or belt at all times during the day, and on my night stand at night. Before I had a cell phone, the land line was on my night stand. Back then it was because my husband was a trucker so I kept the phone close in case he needed to contact me about anything. Also in case one of the kids or grandkids needed me. Husband is deceased and kids and grandkids are grown, but I still keep it close for the same reasons. Also because my kids (and Grands) want me to for their peace of mind. They know my balance is very bad, along with other health issues. I really do feel much safer with a phone within arms reach. Rusty