Fridays are normally the days when we prepare for the weekend projects. On our list this weekend: giving the patio furniture a facelift, experimenting with a possible wall art project, “building” an inspiration board for my office, and finish organizing the shed. If this were an ordinary Friday, I’d be gearing up and getting things ready to tackle those projects. But, that’s not what’s going on today. Instead, we’re getting ready for a very unwanted houseguest: Irene. Uhh!
We’re about 100 miles from the coast, putting us right on the line between “widespread damage” and “damage possible”. We’re currently under a Tropical Storm Warning, our local news said to expect 40-60 miles an hour winds in our area (wow!), and, here’s the clincher, lots of power outages. Therefore, my typical Friday T0-Do List has gone from picking up fabric at JoAnn’s to a few trips to Home Depot to finish putting together our “Emergency Box” (read more about that here).
A lot of the meteorologists are comparing this storm to Hurricane Isabel back in 2003. I remember there being a lot of fallen trees, and my family was without power for at least 8 days. Simply put, it was awful. We’d rather be safe than sorry, so we’re trying to prepare for whatever is possible.
I spent the morning cleaning the house, doing every bit of laundry, organizing all of our supplies, filling the freezer with bags of water, putting batteries in the flashlights, and making sure we had enough Spaghetti O’s and peanut butter & jelly (Greg loves his PBJ!). And, for some reason, I also bought a lot of Ramen. It didn’t occur to me until after I got home that if the power goes out, we can’t cook the ramen. Duh, Ash! I also spent a good part of the day on the phone with my mom and Grandma on the phone assuring them we’ll be okay. ; )
After Greg got off from work, he filled the car with gas (which was kind of tricky because all of the area gas stations started to run out!), moved the patio furniture into the shed, cleaned out the gutters, and made sure he knew how to work the weather radio. He’s also been trying to teach Bentley to “go potty” on a disposable doggie mat in the utility room, rather than going outside. This shall be interesting… and a bit amusing.
So, we’re battening down hatchess here at the 7th House on the Left. We’ll be sure to give you guys an update after Irene passes through our area. Of course, the update might be brought to you by iPhone if the power goes out! You can also keep in touch with us on Twitter here!
Any of you getting hit by Irene? Don’t you wish she’d go home already?! Ugh…
Map from The Weather Channel. Gutter image from here.
I live in Australia been through a few cyclones, major flooding at the beginning of the year, and earthquales in New Zealand while on holiday at the beginning of the month. Good luck! You’ll be in my prayers. Though you sound really well prepared.
We’re getting Irene too! You’re lucky you got your gutters cleaned out… The Man couldn’t get up there and I know they are full of stuff. We also picked up some doggie pads and I know my dog is going to get so excited when i pull one out… she hates going outside in the rain! Not that I would put her out in a hurricane! Good luck! I look forward to reading about your experience.
Stay safe guys!
From here in the midwest, I’ve gotta say all this hurricane stuff sounds pretty scary… But it sounds like you’re doing everything possible to be prepared. Stay safe you guys, and hopefully those winds don’t cause too much property damage.
Not trying to make light of your circumstances but your post made me giggle so much. I am so that person that would stock up on microwave and ramen noodle meals for a power outage and then realize too late..oops, hmmm, that won’t work. And the thought of Greg trying to train Bentley to use the doggie mat and Bentley probably cocking his head to the side like ‘you want me to do..what? Where?’.
You guys are very well prepared so hunker down, stay safe and get those cards out!
I would like to apologize to everyone who has been displaced by my wrath. Really. I’ve been very cranky for a while. I’m starting to feel better.
But seriously, everyone I know has stocked up on ramen noodles. What is it about Ramen noodles.
As long as you have propane you can cook the ramen on a grill. Or you can drench the ramen in cold water and eat it. It isn’t that great but I’ve done it in a pinch.
Hope you guys didn’t get hit too hard! We went a little crazy in getting ready for Irene (the latest two posts on my blog show what we did).
Hope you guys are okay…Irene hit is too…at least you guys are prepared!!
Glad to see Irene out of New York! Our subways are running again 2:) Glad it wasn’t as bad as it could have been!
You also had an earthquake recently didn’t you? We’ve had several of those (and trimmers) here in California, but you never get use to them. Hurricanes are not the norm for us though! Loving 7th House! You guys are cute:)
How did your dog, Bentley, handle the storm? I know my dog, Duncan, always gets skiddish when there’s a storm on the horizon. He insists on staying in my lap or on my heels and keeps his fav toy by his side. And he weighs 55 lbs.!!!!!! Ha!