Henny Penny-ism happening here. If you were to listen to the news, for sure you would think (like Henny Penny) that the sky is indeed falling.

All they can talk about is the “storm surge” and they don’t really care much beyond their own noses. No one is talking what it means for us in the higher places. How much rain? How much wind? Oh no. It’s all about STORM SURGE.

We have battened down the hatches in every way we can around home. Today found us taking a final swing through the grocery store for more canned dog food, olive oil, more bottled water, bird seed (the silly birds are eating us out of house and home) and more wine where the line was 15 people deep at the liquor store.

In addition to everything we did yesterday to prepare, today we filled both bathtubs full of water for flushing toilets and water for sponge baths and I filled seven large zip-lock bags with water and put them in the freezer in the garage fridge for help in keeping things in the fridge cool if need be.

We thawed out a turkey we had in the freezer and cooked it today, thinking it would just go to waste if the power goes out. It smelled like Thanksgiving all day long.

Right now outside you’d never know anything is coming. It’s been creepy outside all day but maybe that’s because we know something is coming.

Whatever happens, it can’t be a very pretty picture considering how big this storm is. I don’t know much, but I do know that Sandy is coming and she’s pretty pissed off.

Rick’s Jack-O-Lantern.

Geez. What is it with New Jersey and October storms? Last year’s “Snowtober” left us without power for five days. Not to mention Hurricane Irene a few months before that in August followed by tropical depression Lee. Now Sandy the Frankenstorm is bearing down on us and she definitely has New Jersey in her sights. Kind of scary! (No pun intended.)

With the news media harping on and on about Saturday being Prep Day we thought we’d get a jump on things.

Rick bought the last generator in stock that they had in Home Depot Thursday. I went to the grocery store bright and early yesterday morning to beat the crowds and before the store sold out of water. I got dog food, canned veggies, pasta, hamburger and things easy to cook on our propane burner camp stove. At that hour of the morning there was hardly anybody there.

Question is: do we have enough in case we are without power for 7 to 10 days like they are preparing us for?

We still have plenty of oil for the oil lamps and batteries for all the lanterns.

We’ll need to split some wood for the wood stove. Not only does it provide heat, but we can keep a kettle of hot water at the ready.

Rick stopped at the gas station (along with everybody else in NJ) yesterday and filled up the remaining gas cans and top off the Suburban. They were so busy that the attendant told Rick he’d have to pump his own gas (which is illegal to do here in NJ). No power = no gas so everyone was rushing to fill up their cars and gas cans for their generators.

I’ve started a list of all the things that still need to be done outside to prepare. Bring in canoe; bring in figgy; do something with the potted flowers on the front steps and on the deck; turn over steel lawn furniture; take down ghost flag, etc., etc.

Inside the list includes filling all the large water containers, collecting all the lanterns, oil lamps, flashlights, the percolator (got to have coffee!), the tea kettle, wash the remaining load of laundry, stock the wood stove wood bins with split wood. Whew, I know there’s more but it will come to us as we work along.

Also added to the list today is the person who is fixing our driveway pillar is supposed to be coming.

With all this prep work in place, Frankenstorm Sandy is sure to miss us! But I have a funny feeling she won’t. And we want to be prepared. Camping in your own home is not as romantic as it sounds, that much we know for certain!

Photos top to bottom:
Silly Halloween blow-up at a farm near the Warwick Valley Winery on Sunday.

Our witch sticker on the sun room door.

UPDATE AT NOON: Pillar is in place! Photos of that process coming. Kind of creepy that all morning long we’ve had small planes flying over the house as a result of people evacuating their aircraft to a safer place from the local airport. Makes it all seem real instead of the calm day we are having before the storm.

A day or two after the last set of pics taken at Monksville I went back, knowing that there was a little skiff of fog hanging around. The following pics came out of that shoot.
I hope you enjoy them!

It has not been a stellar year here for color. While it was pretty, it didn’t last. Our drenching rain of over two inches on Friday really did the trees in. One of the prettiest spots I know of for fall color is Monksville Reservoir.

Lots of color due to the different kinds of trees and the burning bushes down low along the shoreline are gorgeous. I got caught up in the reflections.

More fall pics coming tomorrow!

Our Alex has reached the grand old age of 10! Go Alex! I was going to take him in the yard for a photo shoot today but it’s drizzly and gray.

As you can see he pretty much gets to do what he wants to. He got to go for a ride in the truck today and we stopped at McDonald’s for some chicken nuggets (which he loves). Tonight he’s having steak. He deserves it.

We love you, Alex!