It’s 7:38 a.m. and I just got back from voting. Thank God for living in a small community as we just parked, walked into the VFW Hall and voted without any lines. We had to pass by the gas station with a small line of about 12 cars with even license plates waiting for gas. I hope my vote counts. I’m nervous. But, I did my part and I can’t change the outcome.

I’m also a little bit nervous about this new storm due to hit tomorrow. We don’t need any more wind, thank you! I really don’t want to lose power again. Please,  no!

It’s interesting that they are letting people who have been displaced (by Sandy) vote by fax or email. I love what Christie said in his press conference the other day about it, something to the effect that this doesn’t mean if you’re a low life and have been kicked out of your home because you didn’t pay your rent, it means if you’ve lost your home during Sandy.

I also found it interesting that in Bergen County they lifted the blue laws on places like Home Depot and Lowes or any other store that is participating somehow in the relief effort.

Our Shop Rite had about ten generators for sale in the front of the store yesterday. The fish counter had some fish but nothing like what they usually have. They are still limping along in getting shipments.

I talked to so many people without electricity. One person said she’s been told it will be Thanksgiving before she gets power back. When I stopped in the liquor store to pick up a few bottles of wine I got to talking to the owner (who also does not have power at home)  he told me that one of the biggest wine distributing centers is under water and won’t be able to restock for a month. No wine? Now that’s scary!!

On Sunday we were getting a little bit of cabin fever so we took Mia for a ride up to our favorite place for weekend lunch, the cafe at the Warwick Valley Winery. They had a very limited menu due to their fridge failing and not getting any new shipments in. We wanted pizza anyway, so we were happy with the selection. We passed so many crews working on power lines and saw lots of transformers, trees and power lines down. They are working hard, no doubt about it.

Another interesting thing I noticed a couple of days before Sandy arrived and that was the birds at our feeder. They were feeding like crazy and we had birds that we don’t normally have. A whole flock of cute little pine siskins flew in and a little red-breasted nuthatch. We normally have the white-breasted nuthatches but not the little red ones. We saw more purple finches too than normal. It seems that the siskins have moved on now but the little nuthatch is still here. This morning the birds are really hitting the feeder crazily again, so I hope that’s not a sign regarding our next storm.

Well, for sure this blog post ended up to be a lot of rambling! But one thing is certain and that is it’s going to be a while before things are “normal” again.

Photo: Door at the Warwick Valley Winery on Sunday.

What the? It took my friend Linda (who lives in Denver) to tell me today that we had a 2.0 earthquake in the early morning hours today right in Ringwood, which is practically next door to us. Huh? Trust me, our bed did not move. The dogs did not sense one thing. We slept right through it. Very weird.

Now we seem to have what they are calling a “Nasty Nor’easter” heading straight for us with more wind, rain, and in our northern location, snow. Come on. Haven’t we had enough, Mother Nature?

When we woke up yesterday it was to TV, internet and phone all working once again. We were finally able to see the destruction for ourselves. Strange to think that last week this time we were still in prep mode for her arrival. I don’t think enough people took the warnings seriously, like our neighbor down the road who left his jumpy trampoline out which ended up speared on his fence. Thank goodness the fence stopped it or it would have made a dangerous projectile!

We count ourselves very lucky. Yes, we will have to pay quite a lot out of pocket for tree removal but we didn’t have any other damage. In places in the back of the house the siding was pulled away from the house some but we were able to pop the pieces back in. It blew down the lattice work that hid the pool pump from view. It took one of our BBQ covers (which was very sheltered up next to the house) and deposited it on the other side of the yard next to the pool deck. We lost a row of shingles on the top of the roof in back.

It deposited hundreds of tree branches and limbs all over the back and front yards. She nicely blew all our leaves into a thick clump both in front and back. A clump so thick that Johnny would not be able to make his way through it so we ended up raking them into huge piles and carting them away on a tarp and with the wheelbarrow over the past few days, because (have you heard?) we have another storm (not a hurricane) bearing down on us in the next few days?

Gas is still an issue but since we filled all three vehicles up with gas before Sandy came ashore (with the thought of siphoning gas out of them if we had to, which of course is impossible as we later found out) and we really haven’t used very much because we haven’t gone anywhere, we are okay on that front. We are now on odd/even rationing days and it feels very much like the 70’s gas shortage.

I have to say how impressed I am with Governor Christie. We watched him in a news conference yesterday and he was brilliant. He also seems to be able to make things happen: now. I am pretty much a Democrat since I align myself on the left on so many issues, but for him I could make an exception. Too bad he isn’t running for President!

The days following Sandy the sky was full of bruised and battered looking clouds, much like the way the people and land in her wake were feeling. It was very strange. Yesterday was the first day in about ten days that we have seen even a little bit of blue sky. Or the sun out in an kind of real display. And even then it didn’t last but for a few hours. The clouds settled in again but this time they looked more like bandages trying to patch things up. It’s going to take time but c’mon New Jersey/NYC, you can do this!

Photos: Monksville Reservoir before Sandy; the sky late yesterday afternoon.

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.