Kids in NJ have had a rough few years with trick-or-treating. Last year there was a freak snowstorm just before Halloween. It brought down so many trees and power lines, they cancelled trick-or-treating due to safety reasons. This year it's the same problem. Hurricane Sandy blew down so many huge trees and brought down a ton of tree limbs. They fell on homes, cars and power lines, which is the reason behind postponing Halloween again this year.
Boyfriend and I fared the storm with very little to talk about. Montclair (our town) is located only ten miles from the city and shore, but we sit high on a hill overlooking the city. We knew we would have no issues with flooding. All day Monday, as Sandy blew and blew, our lights flickered until they finally went out around 6:00pm. What do you do when the power goes out? We stared out the window at the rest of Montclair, which still had power somehow.
Luckily we had just finished cooking dinner, so we enjoyed dinner by candlelight. So romantic with all the wind and rain howling outside. It isn't that cold out right now and our water continued to run, so we just hunkered down for the next few hours.
Tuesday morning we woke without power. My office had a delayed opening, but with all the bridges, tunnels and trains shut down, there was no way I could get to work. BF and I had cereal for breakfast and spent the major portion of the day doing a puzzle. Around 5:00pm the power came back on. With a high five, we celebrated the return of electricity. We are lucky, we were powerless for only 24 hours. Our apartment happens to be on the same grid as a fire station and hospital. Many millions of people are still without power.
My thanks go out to the hardworking people of the public transit, power companies and the first responders that are helping everyone in the tri-state area through this disaster. Stay safe out there everyone. I for one will be here at my apartment, because there is no public transportation for me to get to work! Working from home this week, as much as a lab chemist can work from home!
Before the power went out on the Wilde household, I made this delicious fall cake. Sure, you can make a pumpkin cake, but I thought I would change it up and make a butternut squash cake! I made this last week and brought it to the office. While placing it in the lunchroom, I put a label on it reading "Pumpkin cake!" because I'm pretty sure people would be suspicious of a squash cake. Give this a try if you find yourself with an abundance of butternut squash this fall!