I spent much of the past few days buckling up for the big storm. The weather reports didn’t really sound like anything more than typical Halloween weather for here in CNY, but better to be safe than sorry, and it all needed to be done for winter anyway. 
The landlord just had all new windows installed, so we were pretty snug inside. I put away the lawn chairs and odds and ends of gardening equipment. I re-installed my rain barrel – just in case the power went off, and to prevent heavy rain through the downspout from washing out my neighbors lawn. I consolidated BBQ items in the back yard and covered them securely with a tarp. The dogs bike cart is up on a pallet and tarped to prevent rust and corrosion. The bird feeders are full and my geraniums are on the front porch, slowly inching their way inside.
We had some wind and some heavy rain, enough that said geraniums were well watered while sitting on a covered front porch. Enough that the dog chose carefully which times she really needed to go for a walk. (it was really quite lovely at about 2 am).

Much of the night was spent on Facebook checking out how my friends around the country were doing. One friend in NYC posted some pretty stunning pictures of flooding in lower Manhattan. Then of course their were the faked photos.

My particular favorite contained Godzilla, the Michelin Man, the Statue of Liberty,

and was that Santa?

So today we worry about our friends in the Big Apple (why is it a big apple?) and along the Jersey Shore and pray that their power and services are restored quickly and safely.