Preppers

Let me tell you a little something about Hurricane Sandy...I hate her. She made my usually-peaceful weekly Target trip a nightmare with long lines and people who are too silly to know that batteries have other year-round uses besides flashlights and emergency lanterns. Also, hello, but do people not usually buy milk and bread? Because it seemed like that was all people were buying. 

At any rate, we are mostly "prepped" for the storm, meaning that the only things we really need to get still are the lanterns from the attic. We've got candles, matches, flashlights, food (I'm even making a corned beef in the crockpot today for good measure), and to address the more practical concerns, booze and the remainder of the chocolate chip cookies I made yesterday. 

Why do we do all of this when we're at a high elevation and completely land-locked? Well last year after both Hurricane Irene and that freak late-October snow-and-ice storm that cancelled Halloween, we lost power for a week.  Yes, a whole week. What really gets me about all that? I don't really live in the sticks. I mean, it's suburban New Jersey. I live 45 minutes from Manhattan. We still lose power for crazy amounts of time on a regular basis, and it's pretty much a given that if there's any wind at all, we'll lose power again. We do not have a generator, either, so we need to plan for that as well, by betting extra ice to pack into the chest freezer in the basement if the power goes out too long. Heat is not a problem because of the woodstove that heats our whole house anyway, and for light and whatnot we've got any number of candles and lanterns. The only real problem is the well, because it's electric and that means no water, which is why we have TWELVE GALLONS or it sitting in the middle of my kitchen right now. 

So what's left to do? Well, not much. We're going to go for our last outdoor run for a few days, try to bag up a few leaves, finish getting the pieces together for Stenni's cowgirl costume, hit the farmer's market for some snacks, then take down the outdoor Halloween decorations lest they become projectiles in the predicted 60 mph winds, and batten down the hatches and make some cocktails.

I mean, it's the least we can do, right? 

If you live in the Northeast, are you doing anything to prepare for the storm?  Stocking up on candles? Picking up a generator? Buying out the liquor store? Planning a hurricane party?