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Monday, September 11, 2017

Getting Ready for Irma

Even though I am in the northern third of Alabama, I am getting ready for a hurricane. Well, the remnants will be here and possibly cause trouble. High winds bringing down trees onto power lines and tornadoes are all we have to worry about. Where I live, there is no threat of heavy rain.

I have had the water and food covered for anything. I needed bread, just because I needed bread. the shelves are three quarters gone. People had left all the whole grain wheat that I cannot eat. Finally, I found a white bread that looked tolerable, not one I have eaten ever. A loaf of rye looked good, so I got that. This is not hurricane prep! I just wanted bread and only had ends left.

What am I doing in prep?
*washing clothes
*making sure every dish is clean
*gathering all the flashlights, electric candles, and headlamps and putting batteries into one
*making sure the car is not parked under a dead limb...lol.
*feeding Dominique early tomorrow and again just before the wind is dangerous
*filling up the car early tomorrow
*secure lawn chairs trash cans.

The last time I lost electricity, it was from a tornado and my electricity was out for five days. So, I wash clothes.

Paper plates, bowls, and glasses are at the ready. I just don't want rotting dishes sitting around. I will wash each few pieces I use all day tomorrow.

All the flashlights and batteries are within arms' reach, but I just want to make sure they are ready.

It is dicey finding a place on this tree-filled lot where the car is safe! I may park on the street in front of my neighbor's house since she moved.

I will not feed Dominique in a strong wind. There was a knife with a 10+ blade that flew in my yard during the last tornado. Enough said.

I should have put gas in today. Tomorrow, there may be lines and some gas stations may be out. I doubt the last, but who knows?

Maybe I will get up as soon as gas stations open and fill up the car. My car had just been filled before the tornado that turned out the lights and gas pumps.

There is no way I want to lose my lawn furniture or trash cans or have one thrown through a window. I will put them against the retaining wall. They may blow over, but they will stay here in my yard. If I can, I will get someone to turn over the larger of the two tables. I can turn the smaller one over, legs up. The picnic table will be fine. If it blows away, we have real trouble! At any rate, I cannot turn it over.

I did buy six bananas. It is cool enough  they won't get too ripe right away. Plus, they are tiny bananas, the kind I need to eat.

I can eat bananas, apples, grapes, crackers, cheese, applesauce. Some cans of food I can eat without heating: tuna, chicken, green beans, peaches. So, I will not starve at all. There were many shoppers at WM buying for the remnants of Irma. They thought the electricity might go out if there were a electrical problem. I just went for bread.

And, it is my birthday! I suppose I will stick close to home tomorrow on the 11th, but I had no great plans, anyway!

Are you preparing for winds or rain from Irma? What are you doing? If you are not preparing and do not need to do so right now, what would you do if you were fearing electrical outage or too much rain?




28 comments:

  1. Happy birthday.
    I hope Irma has tired herself out long before she reaches you.

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    Replies
    1. EC,
      Thank you. I hope it is not as bad as it could be. We could never see a drop of rain and still be cowed by the wind. I hope she turns east at some point. Or, at least keep going straight instead of turning toward us.

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  2. Sounds to me like you have it covered. That's way more than most folks. And a very happy birthday!!

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    1. Vickie,
      I have enough crackers and bread that will last three months to do without that loaf of bread, just wanted it not the other I had. My food is always stocked up. I might be missing something I want that I regularly purchase, but I clearly won't starve. I just keep all this stuff. Why not? My birthday won't be filled with excitement, but I will be happy. Oh, wait. It is now my birthday. This is tomorrow...lol.

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  3. Linda, happy birthday! Sounds like you have thought of everything. No power for five days? I panic when it's five hours. I have never lost a freezer full of food. The news stories are heartbreaking. People who lose everything probably won't be stressed about food. Batten down the hatches!

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    Replies
    1. Thank you.
      I lost part of a freezer of food. I purchased a generator and got it hooked up within 25 hours. I opened it and snatched out all soft food and let the hard food freeze. So, I suppose I only lost 1/3 of the food in the freezer. The worst that will happen here is loss of electricity if winds blow a tree on a line. I heard Irma had moved slightly to the east, so that will bode well for me. At least I know I will not lose things to a storm surge.

      Delete
  4. Happy Birthday!
    I hope Irma is underwhelming!

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  5. kylie,
    Thank you for both sentiments, especially the second.

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  6. Hope you find some fun on your birthday!

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    1. slugmama,
      I will find something. Sleep is what I would like right now.

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  7. Happy birthday.
    Power outages due to wind are a way of life around here. As we are on a well, it means no water, so we always have bottled water on hand. We also make a habit of washing any water-storage suitable container (ie: two liter bottle) filling it with water, and tucking it in the garage or pantry. This water is used for things like hand washing, watering the pets, and forcing a flush. Personally, except for not being able to take a hot shower, I enjoy the power outages,

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    1. Meg B,
      Thank you. Water is the one thing I probably won't lose, thankfully. I have the one gallon of water and about 30 water bottles. And, I have a few ALL detergent bottles with water for hand washing.

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  8. Happy birthday Linda! I hope that Irma doesn't have major effects where you are. My in-laws are in Florida and were unable to evacuate. They hunkered down in an interior closet in their home. The eye passed directly over them at 3am this morning. They called this morning to say they were safe but hadn't been able to see damage as too many tornado warnings. I hope Irma does NO damage for you as a birthday present!

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    Replies
    1. Thank you.

      I'm glad they are okay. It would be horrible to live through a hurricane and then have to face tornadoes. NO damage would be a great birthday present!

      Delete
  9. Happy Birthday - I hope you see no damage but it sounds like you are prepared. I am lucky, when we lose power I have natural gas to the bbq, fireplace and hot water tank so I can eat, stay warm and take a shower. We lose power due to strong winds a couple times a year but never more than a few hours. I have thought about buying a generator but it is one more thing to store. I usually never have more than $300 worth of food in the freezer at one time though. I also keep a ton of candles and a cell phone battery charger handy, do you have one of those?

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    Replies
    1. cc,
      Gas is handy in an emergency! I have several chargers. One is plugged into the clock usb port. The one in the car has the wall charger part that can be attached if I need to take it inside. Then, I have several "spare" chargers here, too. I am lucky because during the five day outage, my car will charge the cell phone even when the car is not running or the accessory setting on the starter is not on. Some people had no gas to spare the turn on the car to charge their phones. They could not believe my car would charge my phone when the key was not on. However, they may have thought they needed to turn on the car. ???

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    2. cc,
      Did you mean a cell phone charger as in I don't need wall charger or wall charger? No, I don't, but really want one. I am aware of them, but since my car will charge my phone, I have not missed having one when the electricity is off.

      Delete
  10. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  11. Edited for major typo!

    Happy belated birthday. Hopefully you haven't lost power from the wrath of Irma.
    We lose power quite often. A whole-house generator is on our want list, but needs to wait until we are out of debt. Meanwhile we always keep flashlights, bottled water, canned soup (we have a propane stove) on hand for anytime we have a power loss.

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    1. Dime,

      Thank you. No, the high winds are to come. It's drizzling outside, coming in bands.
      I have a generator I cannot start and heavy extension cords. But, I would not use that unless the electricity were going to be out for more than a few hours. I do have a propane grill and a few of the one-use little charcoal things. Oh, I have tuna can stove and several little candles that might heat something. Since I don drink coffee, I am not frantic to heat anything.

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  12. Happy Birthday, Linda! Like you I am in the getting ready process, mainly the possibility of a sustained power outage. I guess I will spend the day washing clothes and rearranging the freezer so I can put everything from the refrigerator into the big freezer. I have a gas cooktop so I am not worried about cooking but I need to run the dishwasher so I won't get stuck having to hand wash the load that is in there right now. Stay safe!

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    1. Anne,
      Since we are in the same area, we have the same preps, basically. Hand-washing a dishwasher full of dishes would be the worst thing, EVER...lol. Having a gas stove would be nice, but this house is all electric. I know your mother has trees, so I figure you do too, especially where you live. The wind is not bad here at all at 5 pm, but I have the night to go as far as chances of high wind, just as you do.

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  13. Happy Birthday Linda! Hope the day was the best, even if you had to do some prepping.

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    1. tana50,
      It was a sort of nothing day, but okay. Not the best but not bad. That was my decision, mostly. The prepping was minimal, so it did not interfere with fun. Thanks for the sentiment!

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  14. You know I don't have to say it but we're definitely sending good vibes your direction. Hang in there!!!

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    1. Thanks! The sent vibes worked as we had little rain even though the bands came right through here.

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Okay, hoping the annoyances have gone away.