Hunker Down (Hurricane Speak for "Bring It")

It is about 5pm right now in NYC and I am hunkered down in my apartment. I just learned the term "hunker down" yesterday from my cool friends, but today on CNN I have heard the term quite a bit. Hunker down means you are prepared and at the location where you are ready to ride out the storm.

Irene is currently heading straight towards NYC, and the meteorologists are predicting that we will start seeing harsh effects from Hurricane Irene at about midnight tonight. Right now it is on path to potentially be a direct hit.

Fortunately I am not in an evacuation zone - that means that I am not at risk for flooding from a storm surge. Also, it is good that I live on the second floor and have only one window in my apartment. They said the biggest risk for windows shattering are those on the 10th floor and above. Since the window is in my bedroom, tonight I am planning to sleep on my futon and closing my bedroom doors just to stay away from the window.

I started preparing for the hurricane about 48 hours ago. I bought 4 gallons of water on Thursday night, and then last night I went to Trader Joe's to pick up some non-perishable food. I went to the Trader Joe's on the Upper West Side, and had to wait in a line just to get in the grocery store. I tried to buy a flashlight and batteries last night, but I waited too long to do that. Home Depot and Bed, Bath & Beyond both had signs up that said no flashlights or batteries. I do have some Yankee Candles that I can burn (I do have matches) and a crank flashlight that does work.

Otis and Sam are both sleeping and have no idea what is coming. I have moved their carriers from the top of my refrigerator to the ground so I can easily get to them if I need to. They have plenty of food on hand. I am also going to fill up both my bathtub and kitchen sink before I go to bed tonight just in case.

This morning I got up early and went to the gym, and then I walked around the Upper East Side and took some pictures of the hurricane preparations.

This picture was actually taken last night, but most stores had a sign similar to this on their door.

The calm before my storm outside the window of my apartment. I do like the fact that the building to the right sticks out further than my building, and there are buildings directly across the way. That should block some of the wind.

This is what I have been doing most of the day. Switching between CNN and the local NBC news.

My food rations if needed.

This is how Otis is preparing for Irene.

Biscuits & Bath is ready to put some sandbags out.

Some of the stores had duct tape on their windows.

I did not duct tape or board my window...I read that it really didn't do much and it was not suggested.

H&H was still open and had a long line...bagels must be a good hurricane food.

The little deli's were putting out their winter glass protectors.

I saw duct tape on a lot of these things...maybe to keep water from going in the cracks?

Lots of water.

Starbucks was closed already.

This is Morton Williams on my corner. It is never busy, but today it was packed!

Another window with duct tape.

Sam is nervous about the impending hurricane.

She was also looking out the window at the rain.

Their cat post is moved out from my bedroom because they like to sleep on this.

So all I do now is wait. Please join me in praying for God's mercy on NYC!

I Love the Farmer's Market

Today I went to the Union Square Farmer's Market. I didn't get there until about 4:30pm so a lot of the farmer's had already packed up or were packing up for the day. But, I did score a few items.

I bought 3 jars of tomato sauce, honey and womanchego cheese. The tomato sauce in stores (including Whole Foods and Trader Joe's) usually has sugar added or some other ingredient I cannot eat. I have been wanting to make pizza, and have been holding off doing so because making your own marinara sauce sounds very labor intensive. I saw this tomato sauce, and the ingredients are just tomatoes, onions, garlic, vegetable oil, oregano and salt. I bought 3 jars. I also bought a spaghetti squash at Whole Foods so I can eat that with some marinara sauce and parmesan cheese.

All of the vendors at the farmer's market had pictures of their farms and the animals were running around the pasture's like they should be. All of the vendors are local too - mostly from New York and New Jersey, and some from Connecticut.

Here are a couple of other pictures from today...

Otis and Sam earlier in the day. It ended up being a nice day here and they were enjoying the sunshine.

This is sand art in Washington Square Park. I was walking around Soho and walked through the park to get to Union Square.

Christmas Trip to AZ

I was in AZ for Christmas from December 17th-29th. It was a nice long trip home - although my trips there always go by too fast. Here are some highlights...

Colby and Otis. Since I was home for a good length of time, I brought Otis and Sam with me.

Dinner with the Greens. Kellyn and I had them over for dinner at her house. Such a good night of catching up.

Caitlin and Kellyn.

Aaryn, Nikki and I.

I visited with Mikele one night. No pictures with her, but I did get one with Miles and Kate.

I drove the Grandma's around Scottsdale/Phoenix one night to look at Christmas lights.

Cruzer, Mom and Kellyn came too.

I had brunch with Jaime and Blake at La Grande Orange.

I took the cats outside every once in a while - they don't get to sit outside in NYC so I figured some fresh air and sun would be good for them.

I had dinner with Scott, Julie and Brady at True Foods at Scottsdale Quarter. We attempted to go to Railroad Park to ride the train but the line was way too long.

Dinner with Montana and Aubrey at True Foods at the Biltmore.

And dinner at True Foods with Lauren followed by a "slumber party" since Jason was out of town.

Color Accent Camera Feature

I was so excited yesterday - I discovered a new feature on my camera that I didn't even know I had. To give credit where credit is due, I was looking at Rachel's pictures on Facebook and she had one of her daughter that was black and white except for her baby's big blue eyes. I commented and asked her if she used Photoshop to edit her photos. She said, no, it was a feature on her camera. Come to find out she has a camera similar to mine, so I also found the Color Accent feature on my camera and discovered I can do the same thing! I still need to read up on how to best use this feature, but see the blue sheet in the below picture - no Photoshop involved. So cool!

Edamame!

I have been loading a bunch of pictures to my computer tonight, and I started laughing when I saw this one.

I took it a couple of weeks ago, and the reason I took the picture was because Otis was licking my discarded edamame shells. Now that I look at it though, I realize that it looks odd that I was 1) eating on the floor, 2) putting the leftover shells on the floor, and 3) eating next to a toy mouse. Thinking about it, I do eat quite a few meals sitting on the floor - I guess that it just due to living in a Manhattan apartment with very little space!

Bring on the Warm Weather

Yesterday was a gorgeous day - it was mostly sunny and the high was 75 degrees.  That's right - 75 - 5 more degrees and we would have hit 80!  I took advantage of it by going to Central Park (you probably could've guessed that one).  I wasn't the only one here in NYC who was ready to spend some time outside - this is what the park looked like:

Otis and Sam enjoyed the warm weather as well.  I opened my windows and they sat in the sun.

And this is how I left them when I went to church tonight :)

My Obese Cat

I took Otis to the vet this afternoon because he has been drinking a lot more water than normal so I wanted to get him checked out.  The vet said that he looked great, but that she would take some blood and run a few tests - the results will be in tomorrow.  When he weighed in on the scale though he was 19 lbs, 15 oz - WHAT?!?  Her comment was that he was a bit obese.  He was fat when I got him, and I feed him a VERY limited amount of food each day.  I even buy a higher quality brand of food that does not have all the fillers and additives like Friskies (or some other cheap brand) does.  I feel like a bad parent who can't keep their kids' weight under control.  The vet suggested I switch to a canned food diet and that should help him lose weight.  I have heard mixed opinions on feeding cats canned food, so now I have some research to do.  Here are some pictures of Mr. Fatty:

Don't I Look Cute?

The other morning, Colby and my mom came over to the condo to say hi. I was getting ready for work, and Colby was playing with the cats. Colby was sitting on my bed petting Otis and we have the following conversation:

Colby: I thought you'd have your camera out by now.

Me: Why do I need a camera?

Colby: Don't you think I look pretty cute sitting here with Otis? Wouldn't you like to take a picture?

Lookin' Cute

Sam - My Expensive Cat

I have had the cats for just about 4 months now, and Sam has turned out to be one expensive kitty. I took both Otis and Sam to the vet for a general check-up a few weeks after I got them back in May. The vet said they both looked good, with the exception of Sam's teeth which needed a major cleaning. I took Sam back in July for the cleaning which is a very pricey procedure. When I took her to the vet they called on the loud speaker and said "Sam is here for surgery." I explained to them that no, she was not there for surgery, just a teeth cleaning. They said that they refer to teeth cleaning as surgery because they go through the sam process with IV and anesthesia as they would with surgery. While I had her in that day I also asked them to check out a growth on her back (which they removed and biopsied but it ended up being nothing).

Here are some pictures of her wounds:

A little groggy from the anesthesia

Her stitches in her back

When the vet was completing the pre-op tests before her teeth cleaning, the vet told me that her kidney levels were slightly elevated and that I might want to have them re-tested in a couple of weeks. I immediately thought "kidney failure" as that is what we lost Cedric to, but the vet assured me that this was not kidney failure, possibly just an infection. So, being the good cat parent that I am, I took her back a few weeks later and everything is fine. She now has a sore on her chest which I had the vet look at when I had her in for the kidney test. He gave her some antibiotics, but she has finished those and the sore on her chest is still there. I am not worried about it as she seems to be fine.

She can be a lovable cat when she wants to be

Hiding in a box

Helping me with my scrapbooks

I can't do a whole post about Sam without including a picture of Otis - he is doing great.

Fatty Otis :)