The Land of Melted Clocks: October 2012

See that little marker... that's me, 45 East of NYC and
3 miles North of the Long Island Sound.

I've been an East Coast girl all my life, and I lived through hurricane, Nor' Easters, blizzards, heck we've even had mini earthquakes and a tornado! But this storm is something new. It's been dubbed Frankenstorm because it's Hurricane Sandy crashing into TWO winter storm fronts. Some are calling it the perfect storm... I'm calling it a bad way to start a week!

While I'm trying to joke about it, really I'm a little freaked out. Was fine until they started ordering mandatory evacuations of my city, then pretty much closed my city. Even then I was still not major worried, until my dad - a city firefighter - started to get weird. Said his spidey sense was tingling. Now it's time to worry.

We've been pretty lucky in past storms because the hurricanes have been blocked a bit by Long Island and being on the sound has spared us from major blizzards since we tend to have warmer temps than up North. And while most of the state has CL&P for power, we have UI and two plants feeding us so power outages haven't even been more than a few hours. This storm... we may not be so lucky. So we prepare.

I got plenty to keep me busy!

When it comes to storm prep, I really don't have to worry about the logistics of prepping the house, dad takes care of all that. I just help when needed. He also takes care of flashlights and all that emergency stuff, cause really who is better than a fire captain to handle all that. And when it comes to food, mom's got that covered. Though, I did some baking today... cupcakes and pumpkin bread. Got to have baked goods during a storm! My other tasks are really myself (clothes, meds, etc), Gryffin, and information. I'm the one with the smartphone, so keeping my phone and battery back-up charged is really important. As for the cat, well I sort of failed a little on that this time, because he is nearing the bottom of his food bin. Getting food was on tomorrow's list and there is a good chance I'm not making it out of the house. But there is 2 1/2 days... so it is what it is.

As for prepping for things to do if (and when) we lose power, I have:

A fully charged iPad & laptop and a mile long list of article ideas. Kind of looking forward to getting some quiet time to just sit and write.
Notebooks, sketch pads, tons of pencils, crayons, paints, and markers. Some quiet art time has been much needed too.
Have months worth of reading material, so as long as there is daylight I can read.
Piles and piles of toys waiting to play with and review. There is even a Mega Bloks Dinosaur Train set... that's going to be a BLAST to set up!
While the laptop still has power (it doesn't hold a charge very well, though without the wi-fi it might last longer) I can edit photos, clean up files, organize information.
Picked up some cool 80's toys at an estate sale over the weekend. They need some cleaning and tending to.
Dalí's costume for the Wreck-It Ralph movie screening needs to be finished, it's hand sewing and glue, so I can finish that up.

See, tons of toys that need reviewing.. and playing with!

I figure that's more than enough projects to keep me busy for days! Plus I have my cameras fully charged... nothing like some pre/during/post storm photos for something to do!

Speaking of storm photos... here is my front yard today: