I do have UPS backup here in case of power failure. Not sure it would run a refrigerator, but come to think of it the only time we have power outages here is in winter so it's not an issue.
Harbor Freight time.
OK, had to look up "Harbor Freight". Chain store?
Cheap tools...and generators. I have a Predator 4000 mounted on my truck...works great...loud as the dickens...but does the job.
4000 Max Starting/3200 Running Watts, 6.5 HP (212cc) Generator EPA III with GFCI Outlet Protection
Just to follow up on your watching Maryland ---
The sun's out here, we got several inches of rain over the last day and a half but I never got so much as a gust of wind, not once. Florence passed to my east and apparently has turned further east toward eastern Kentucky. So I think all your parents are looking at is rainfall.
Thanks Pogo...looks like they are out of the woods. Trees fell on the powerlines, but didn't knock out the power. The power co. is shutting down the power Wednesday to remove them.
How are things at your place?
We gots lots of rain as expected, for a day and two nights. By this morning the sun was out. Creeks and rivers are high but no higher than we've seen 'em in the past during wet spells. My completely unofficial gauge, the ten-gallon pot sitting out in the yard, indicates we got maybe ten inches or more. But it ran off.
We had no power outages here. We blinked twice, just momentarily, and that was it.
And a correction to my earlier post --- when I said Florence passed to my "east", that means to my "west". Just like "would" means "wouldn't".