Off Topic: That Was the Week It Was - October 29, 2017

Good afternoon! Since it's a Sunday afternoon, it's time for my off television topic reflection of the week gone by in both words and photos I've taken along the way. Yeah, I know I usually post this in the morning. But I'm in a lackadaisical mood today. If you're not interested in this, please feel free to check out my previous and newer posts I will put up after this -- they will be television related! You can find my Survivor posts at this link.

We're under a flash flood watch here today with heavy rains and heavy winds expected as the day goes on. It's raining as I get this written, but it's not really stormy ... yet. I just hope it doesn't cancel or delay my expected Peapod grocery delivery order I expect between 4pm - 6pm. 

We've certainly had worse weather around here on this day in past years. Five years ago, Hurricane (or Superstorm) Sandy hit the area turning everything topsy-turvy in the area. While I'm not close enough to a shore point to worry about ocean storm surge, the wind damage in this area was bad. My power was out nearly two weeks. And, a few days after the storm, we had a three inch or so snowstorm. I had no power, no heat. I found out the meaning of not wasting daylight. We had received possible evacuation notices from the city of Plainfield before the storm -- I live near a stream called the Green Brook and it has necessitated some boat rescues across the street in the past. In a few other storms I've seen water come up about a foot or so around my building. But here with Sandy, the rains weren't the issue. It was the wind.

The year before Sandy on this date, we had a seven inch snowstorm ... with all of the trees still bearing leaves! The wet snow brought trees down throughout Plainfield which knocked out my power for three days. Gah! We need underground cables! While I remember an earthquake back around eight years ago, they would be more reliable in this area. 

So, Halloween was canceled here two years in a row -- 2011 and 2012. Looking at the forecast this upcoming week, Halloween is the only day with lots of sunshine expected. I never have trick-or-treaters here, but I always buy something (I like) just in case. But I do know they're out there. I'm glad they'll have a good day for it.

I really don't have much photo-wise this week. I worked a lot. I'm tired. But, then again, I always feel tired. Oh, well. Onto the photos I took -- clicking on an image will bring up a larger version.

Saturday night's moon

I tried taking a shot with my cell phone, which does have a quasi-decent camera. But it came out as a white blob in the sky no matter what I did. So, this is the real camera. Hmm ... all of these shots this week are the real camera. I didn't take much with the cell phone.

Birds on a wire

Probably planning on overtaking the world and destroying humanity. Yep, they do things like that. Or, at the very least, they think about it.

Color through the trees

While the trees lining my apartment building's parking lot are still either green or shedding brown dried leaves, the neighbor has color in his backyard.

**CLICK THE 'READ MORE' LINK TO SEE THE REST OF THE PHOTOS**

Primping

Pigeons atop the Chotola Apartment Building on North Avenue primp for the photo shoot that never happened because my train arrived.

Shag carpets. Really?

Bed Bath and Beyond is displaying shag carpets on the sidewalk in front of their Bridgewater store. I thought those went out of style in the 70s. 

Why?

The scoreboard was all lighted at the closed empty TD Bank Ball Park in Bridgewater when I walked by at 8:35 yesterday morning. 

The flag in the woods

As the foliage around it finally gets some color. Bridgewater, NJ.

Burning bush

While these have some nice color, it's not as uniform this year as many past seasons.

Peak won't be as colorful as some years

Weird skies over Dunellen

We had torrential downpours and then the sunset started to arrive. A shelf of storm clouds was lit up yellow by the setting sun's rays. It was a bit surreal.

Okay, Vincent

You've killed both your catnip mouse and the box. Are you happy now? No? More catnip? More cat treats? I've created a monster!