It’s Sunday afternoon and I’m sitting in my office looking outside wondering why more people aren’t out enjoying this picture-perfect day. It is absolutely gorgeous out right now. Sunny, not too hot, light breeze out of the south. It’s delightful porch-sitting, iced tea sipping weather. Except for that darned old weather forecast, I’d say it’s a downright perfect day. Hurricane? What hurricane?
My last experience with a hurricane came during a vacation to sunny Florida. Reports of Irma (another dreaded I storm) loomed, but we went anyway. We had planned 12 days of R & R so a couple of messed up storm days didn’t really hinder us at all. We scoffed in the face of the storm. We come from wildfire country, a little water is a wonderful thing for us.
Those days leading up to Irma were much like today. Darned near perfect. Not too hot. Light breeze. Hardly any people around. We had the place to ourselves. It was AWESOME!!! Until it wasn’t.
When told to do so, we stocked up on supplies (aka snacks), moved our outdoor patio furniture into our 5th-floor hotel room, rented some DVD’s, put on our PJ’s, bolted the doors and windows, and hunkered down. Easy peasy. My husband slept through the entire storm. Me? Not so much. I heard every wind gust and flinched at every cracking, snapping, and roaring sound I heard. Much like a wildfire sounds when it’s breathing down your neck.
The next day we were sequestered to our rooms while maintenance crews went to work cleaning up the destruction. We watched from our balcony, thankful to be alive and still on vacation and wished we could go down and help pick up stuff. At least it would have given us something to do. But we bravely faced another PJ-wearing, TV-watching, snack-eating day. Hey, we survived and have wonderful memories.
Today, I’m hoping for the same scenario. I’ve stocked up on supplies (aka snacks) and secured all the outdoor furniture. I’m hoping the Category 4 that’s slated to demolish New Orleans loses some of its oomph by the time it reaches us. Everyone’s posting messages of doom on so social media, as people are wont to do. But every time I read another post or another news snippet I wonder, did I get enough snacks?
I’ve heard that some people are cleaning out their freezers in anticipation of being with power for several weeks. WEEKS? Seriously? I hope not because there’s only so much shredded cheese I can use before tonight, and I’ve got bags of the stuff in my freezer. And should I have spent the money for a generator? And, my car’s only got half a tank of gas in it. Will that be enough? I mean, if the streets flood, I won’t be able to go anywhere anyway.
My house has been standing since 1870 so I’m pretty confident it’ll keep me safe but, what if? I could drive myself insane if I consider all the what ifs. I’ve moved everything to higher ground in the basement in case that floods, which it might. And, if we lose power my sump pump won’t work anyway so I’m sort of just planning on having water in the basement. Not to mention the dehumidifier that won’t work so it’ll be nice and steamy down there too. (sigh)
But, seriously, what more should I be doing? I guess by the time this posts and you guys all read it, I’ll know more. If I don’t respond to your comments, you’ll know why. Something unpleasant happened. Let’s hope you all see my responses right? I’m surrounded by 200+ year old trees that might decide to give up the fight if the winds get too much for them to bear. But I’m not going to go out and cut them down now. They’ve been there for 200 years so, I guess if they go, they go.
What do you guys to do prepare when you hear about these natural disasters heading your way? Do you get paranoid and clean out your freezers or just take normal precautions and hope for the best? I’m not poo-poohing the seriousness of this storm, but how much water and toilet paper do I really need to buy?
Word of the Day: Attitudinize
Fun fact about me: I’ve found way more flashlights than I knew I had. Yay me. Probably should have purchased more batteries though.
Original post by Jansen Schmidt, August 2021. Images by Pexels and Google.
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Most times we are far enough inland that all but the biggest storms are sputtering by the time they get to us, Cammile in ’69 and Katrina in ’05 were the exceptions. The power was out at my house and trees and roofs were damaged all over town during Katrina. As of right now (8:30 Monday) so far so good, cross your fingers knock on wood.
A small generator will save the shredded cheese and keep some lights and fans running but will not run A/C, but hey your house was built for the heat. So put on your hoop skirt, open the doors and windows and remember Southern Belles don’t sweat they glisten.
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Well, as you know, we apparently dodged a hurricane bullet last night. Very little damage here. We never lost power and all the roads are wide open. And – the cheese is safe!!
Thanks for chiming in. I know you natives have seen some nasty storms and that’s the thing, you just never know which one is going to be “the one.” Always err on the side of caution.
Have a great day! (And thanks for taking care of my guests today.)
Patricia
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I have been thinking about you two!!!! Hope the storm downsizes for you all in the south.
Here is a mess too! Understatement 😩
Hugs my friend
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Hello my friend. I’ve been watching in horror as my beloved home town in California goes up in smoke and ash. So many things from my youth are in danger of extinction. Corey and I used to ride our horses over in the Omo Ranch area. And, in every house we lived in, we’d have been evacuated right now.
Stay safe. Is Placerville still out of the danger zone? I know it’s not looking good for Tahoe. Are both of your restaurants still open?
Good to hear from you.
Patricia
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Glad to see from the comments that you survived with minimum problems. We’ll be getting that rain later this week.
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I think Ida decided Vicksburg wasn’t worth the time so she headed East. We’ve had worse thunder storms. I hear some places around town and in the county lost power but it’s nothing significant at all. We don’t even have very many branches in our driveway. And very little rain.
But hey – I’ve got snacks!!!
Thanks for visiting. Stay dry.
Patricia
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I’m glad the storm skipped over you! I’m one of those pre-prep people so I don’t freak out when there’s news of upcoming storms, etc.. Honestly, when mother nature decides to strike hard, no preparation in the world can save everything, so why over-worry about it, right? Be sensible, do what you can, and if you have to…make a run for it. But panicking doesn’t help anything. It can’t even save the extra cheese! 🙂 Stay safe out there!
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You know, I’m pretty much always prepared. That’s just how I roll. What’s hard is when I have guests staying because I don’t know how to adequately prepare for them. Especially things like bottled water. How much is enough?
We lucked out this time. Ida decided to head east and we were spared her fury. We have zero damage here and very little rain. A few isolated spots around town lost power but nothing major at all. We have way worse plain old thunder storms.
Anyway, it could have been worse so I’m thankful. Thanks for joining the conversation. Hope you guys are well out west.
Patricia
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I was thinking of you last night, hoping Vicksburg was far enough inland for the storm to lose steam by the time it got to you! So glad to hear all is good your way. We aren’t big preppers either, but we do have a generator. It came in very handy in 2008 when hurricane Ike came north and took out our power for days. I highly recommend one, if for nothing else than to run the fridge/freezer, and a TV!
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Yes – the TV. For sure. I generally keep my freezer pretty well-stocked so even if we lose power for a day or two that stuff will be fine. I am, generally speaking, pretty well-prepared all the time. Especially when it comes to food and such because I never know when those last minute guests will be arriving. Bottled water is hard to determine but keeping a few gallons on the shelf “just in case” is my general MO anyway.
We were lucky this time around. Ida decided to head east so we had very little damage here. Almost all the roads are clear and only a few isolated folks are without power. Could have been much worse.
Thanks for stopping by. Stay safe up there in you place. Stray storms could move it from what I hear.
Have a great rest of the week.
Patricia
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So glad that you guys dodged Ida. I have also been watching closely all of the devastation in our old stomping grounds … so very sad!
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Oh Jan, it just makes me sick. I know exactly where all of those places are. I’ve been there. Camped there. Skied there. Seeing them all burn down and choked with smoke makes me cry. I feel so bad for all of the wild animals that must be fleeing in terror, starving and thirsty, not being able to breathe, confused. My heart just aches.
That said, wildfire is one of the reasons we left California. Every year they got bigger, hotter, closer, scarier. I’m glad we don’t have to deal with that here. Now we have the occasional tornado and, apparently, hurricane, to deal with. Always something no matter where you are.
Thanks for stopping by. Let’s all continue our prayers for El Dorado County.
Patricia
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Yes, I have been saying lots of prayers for EDC and all the surrounding area. I’m glad we moved to Idaho, but we are still in a forested area so we still have a degree of worry regarding fire. Sure do hope that the house that Corey sold for us is not a casualty of Caldor … we got married there and have lots of happy memories at that property!
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