Batten Down the Hatches

Historical.  Unprecedented.  Devastating.  Catastrophic. 

These are all words that have been used by newscasters over the last 24 hrs to describe Hurricane Sandy.  I’m not usually one to be afraid of storms, but I have to be honest and say this one shares the s**t out of me.  Thankfully we live high enough away from the river that flooding shouldn’t be a problem, but I worry about the trees…especially the huge one right behind us.   “Frankenstorm” is a combination of Hurricane Sandy, super-storm conditions, and climate change is about to pummel the East Coast…and my house.

My husband laughed at me when I told him I wanted to go out and get supplies last Thursday.  We only needed some batteries, water and a few other items.  I wasn’t prepared for what I saw (or rather didn’t see) on the shelves of Stop & Shop 4 days ago.

 We got the very last 2 gallon jug of water (the one pictured here) plus a case of bottles.  They also had ton of batteries then so we got enough for our flashlights.  Plus we needed some good ‘ol fashioned junk food to ride out the storm with.

 

and not to be forgotten the most important provision.  Wine!  Now we’re ready :)

We brought in all of our outside stuff and I froze some Ziplocs full of water to use as ice packs or extra water for when we lose power.  Notice I said when, not if.  I’m certain we’ll lose power at some point tonight.  No power with a 4 year old should be tons of fun.

I took advantage of still having power today and finished up some laundry and (more importantly) baking up a batch of Halloween/Hurricane sugar cookies.  Yum!  I had a little helper who loved rolling out the dough, cutting out the cookies and decorating them.

The trains have been shut down and my office is closed today and tomorrow. The storm just made landfall in NJ so it should be up here very shortly.  Bring it on Sandy, Frankenstorm, whatever you want to call it.  We’re ready!!

To my fellow east coasters (and those in the tri-state area) I wish you a safe Frankenstorm.  Batten down the hatches because this lady is cracking open a bottle as the wind kicks up around here.