It appears the outer bands of Isaac are finally hitting us...sort of. It's windy one minute, pouring one minute, and the next minute it's calm with sunshine. I'm not sure how bad things are going to get here, but at the moment I'm not even sure we are going to get rain that amounts to anything.
The girls and I drove around yesterday evening, and sixty six houses, just in our neighborhood, have either boarded up their windows or put their hurricane shutters out. Most everyone prepared for the worst all the way up to the end. Then there was another house that is redoing their roof that did not bother to move any of it. All of it still sitting on top of their house loosely.
The girls' school called and cancelled school for tomorrow, too. I need to start using my mommy imagination to keep them busy. I can't handle anymore Hannah Montana reruns on Netflix.
I guess I don't have much of an update. I just wanted to give one for those of you out of town worried about us. Richard is home from work, the kids are home from school, we still have power, and are bored to tears. A lot of businesses shut down today just in case. I did receive texts that all of Pensacola McDonald's are open and Hopjack's is open downtown if anyone wants to get out to eat or have a beer.
August 28, 2012
August 27, 2012
Predictions are unpredictable
We started out the evening last night with a phone call from the superindendent closing school for Monday and Tuesday. They will make a call after that to let us know further instruction depending on the storms path and how bad we are affected by it. They opened emergency shelters this morning at 9 AM, and they use a lot of our schools for those shelters. I was sort of thankful at that period of time, because I loathe Sunday nights. The racing to get dinner ready, baths and prepare for a week of school is exhausting.
A few hours later Escambia county called for an evacuation of zones A B and C. I looked up our address, and we of course are in zone C. Alright, sooooo what's that supposed to mean? Disco has to stay here to work, but we need to leave our house??? I've had a handful of people, some close friends and some acquaintances, offer up their houses to us in case of evacuation. I can't say how much I appreciate you all! Being new to all this, and living in a house full of media skeptics, we decided to sit put and see what the heck all this means. I of course once again went over my flood anxiety with Disco, and he reassured me that if it headed this way we would just stack all of our belongings Harry Potter's room of requirement style. We went to sleep knowing nothing, me being a little anxious, but also knowing that what we would hear in the morning would matter more than what they had to say at that time.
Gas stations were already announcing shortages, but that they had more tankers on the way. Disco spent the day at work yesterday securing property and anything that could be considered a projectile. Most everything outside the house with exception of the plants we already placed inside storage. We have food, water, a generator, and the kids are home for a few days. And I must add having all this "crap" nonperishable food that I normally wouldn't buy in the house is driving me bananas. I don't buy it because I want to eat it. All of it. All the time. Proof that food can be an addiction if you eat the wrong things.
Anywho, we wake up this morning to them saying that the storm is heading straight towards New Orleans. We are all but out of the red zone right now at this moment. There are a LOT of pissed off people in this area right now. Those people I said were in mission mode and panicking yesterday, are now bitching that they spent their money meant for bills on supplies and gas because the media freaked them out. Others are saying that with past history, they still have no clue where this storm is going and how strong it will be when it hits landfall. Ivan turned when they didn't expect it to. Some storms have bounced back and forth off the coast before they actually make landfall. Again, this is all hearsay I've read on this here internets. The county has now stated that the evacuations still stand, but they are not mandatory, just a suggestion at this point. I have no personal experience with hurricanes, but I'm beginning to chalk it up to just like everything else, things get blown way out of proportion. In the end this is mother nature. Tornado's can't be predicted, and their paths can't be pinpointed. Tsunami's have been predicted, only to amount to nothing. And do I even need to talk about the predictability of earthquakes? So why are people so upset that there is speculation of where the storm is going to go, only to have it not come to fruition?
Disco said that this amounts to The Weather Channel's Superbowl. They are selling ad space like no other during this storm. And it's a little true. This morning they cut Jim Cantore off as soon as he came on screen for a Hotels.com commercial. You know, just in case you need to evacuate, that's the place you need to make your hotel reservations through. The moment we found out the possibility of the storm making landfall here, they were airing natural disaster clean up company commercials. Here, write this number down just in case you need it in a week.
On a random side note, I've been thinking that I would like to get a print of the satellite image of Isaac to frame and hang in the house. Is that weird?
A few hours later Escambia county called for an evacuation of zones A B and C. I looked up our address, and we of course are in zone C. Alright, sooooo what's that supposed to mean? Disco has to stay here to work, but we need to leave our house??? I've had a handful of people, some close friends and some acquaintances, offer up their houses to us in case of evacuation. I can't say how much I appreciate you all! Being new to all this, and living in a house full of media skeptics, we decided to sit put and see what the heck all this means. I of course once again went over my flood anxiety with Disco, and he reassured me that if it headed this way we would just stack all of our belongings Harry Potter's room of requirement style. We went to sleep knowing nothing, me being a little anxious, but also knowing that what we would hear in the morning would matter more than what they had to say at that time.
Gas stations were already announcing shortages, but that they had more tankers on the way. Disco spent the day at work yesterday securing property and anything that could be considered a projectile. Most everything outside the house with exception of the plants we already placed inside storage. We have food, water, a generator, and the kids are home for a few days. And I must add having all this "crap" nonperishable food that I normally wouldn't buy in the house is driving me bananas. I don't buy it because I want to eat it. All of it. All the time. Proof that food can be an addiction if you eat the wrong things.
Anywho, we wake up this morning to them saying that the storm is heading straight towards New Orleans. We are all but out of the red zone right now at this moment. There are a LOT of pissed off people in this area right now. Those people I said were in mission mode and panicking yesterday, are now bitching that they spent their money meant for bills on supplies and gas because the media freaked them out. Others are saying that with past history, they still have no clue where this storm is going and how strong it will be when it hits landfall. Ivan turned when they didn't expect it to. Some storms have bounced back and forth off the coast before they actually make landfall. Again, this is all hearsay I've read on this here internets. The county has now stated that the evacuations still stand, but they are not mandatory, just a suggestion at this point. I have no personal experience with hurricanes, but I'm beginning to chalk it up to just like everything else, things get blown way out of proportion. In the end this is mother nature. Tornado's can't be predicted, and their paths can't be pinpointed. Tsunami's have been predicted, only to amount to nothing. And do I even need to talk about the predictability of earthquakes? So why are people so upset that there is speculation of where the storm is going to go, only to have it not come to fruition?
Disco said that this amounts to The Weather Channel's Superbowl. They are selling ad space like no other during this storm. And it's a little true. This morning they cut Jim Cantore off as soon as he came on screen for a Hotels.com commercial. You know, just in case you need to evacuate, that's the place you need to make your hotel reservations through. The moment we found out the possibility of the storm making landfall here, they were airing natural disaster clean up company commercials. Here, write this number down just in case you need it in a week.
On a random side note, I've been thinking that I would like to get a print of the satellite image of Isaac to frame and hang in the house. Is that weird?
August 26, 2012
Blabberings of a hypothetical hurricane
I decided that maybe I would just write out all the stuff going on in my head about the impending possible Hurricane Isaac instead of blasting every thought on Facebook. I have a lot to say about it anyway. Well, I think I do. I bet now that I decided to write it all out here, I won't come up with enough to talk about. But, in the mean time, here we go.
Last year in September we lived through our first tropical storm. All the hype building up to it and the possibility of it turning into a hurricane of course had this Midwest girl completely freaked. Probably the way people down here freak out about tornadoes, which of course are nothing to sneeze at, but I've lived with the tornado watches and warnings my entire life before Disco joined the Army. Back to the tropical storm. For goodness sakes, it was just rain. A little wind and a lot of rain. No lightening really. I ran to and from the store both days to get typical storm fare of frozen burritos and rocky road. We even hung out in the back yard for a bit, in the rain, hunting an annoying frog that just wouldn't shut up.
Here comes the threat of a hurricane watch for the panhandle. Cat 1. If people were freaking over that measly tropical storm last year, then all this panic for a cat 1 hurricane has to be unwarranted, right? I've been sitting at home doing stuff like painting my nails. I figure we have a generator hard wired to the house, so I don't really NEED to buy canned food because I can still cook and I will still have a fridge. What we are worrying about is flooding. We have gotten so much rain this summer, it's ridiculous. The mower was stalling on Disco when he was cutting the grass because the ground is so saturated. And you can't wait for it to dry out to cut it because it will rain two hours later. So, if the ground is already holding too much water, where is all this expected rain supposed to go? Probably in my house. I spent all day yesterday putting all my documents in water proof sleeves, and all my loose photos in waterproof tubs. I will probably spend Tuesday unplugging electronics, rolling up the rugs and placing everything we own on top of beds, dressers, and counter tops. Maybe it's unneeded, but that is how I plan on coping with my anxiety about the storm.
Today I decided I probably needed to put some food in the house, grab extra water, and extra baby wipes in case water becomes an issue I can bathe myself with the Boom's poo cleaners. On my way to the store I drove the long way through the neighborhood. People already have their windows boarded up. Okay, so maybe this hypothetical hurricane, that may or may not actually affect Pensacola, needs to be taken more seriously on my part? Off to the store I went. I tried to avoid "the Mart" at all costs. Down here our Target isn't a market, but they carry a large food section including frozen and refrigerated foods. I hardly ever see anyone grocery shopping there, so I figured that would be my best bet to not have to deal with crowds or cleared out shelves. I immediately ran into another mom around my age grabbing water who had just been at "the Mart" and said to not waste my time over there. During our whole conversation I kept seeing people briskly walk past me towards the food section, and I started to panic myself that I wouldn't be able to get what I needed. Sure enough I overreacted. Target had everything we needed. Except frozen burritos. Damn it, I'd have to go to "the Mart". Talk about Apocalypse style shopping. I apologize if you need toilet paper, because you won't be able to wipe your bum for a while. There was none in stock. Five shelves of bleach were empty. They were hauling generic water out of the back stock room like it was the last fresh water on God's green Earth.
People around here are panicking. They are all in mission mode. I'm still on the fence. I'm without anxiety for the moment, but I feel like I should be anxious. I'm supposed to be anxious. So I'm anxious about not being anxious. On the plus side, we are all enjoying the music selection The Weather Channel plays during the local forecast. Death Cab for Cutie seems to be one of their favs.
Last year in September we lived through our first tropical storm. All the hype building up to it and the possibility of it turning into a hurricane of course had this Midwest girl completely freaked. Probably the way people down here freak out about tornadoes, which of course are nothing to sneeze at, but I've lived with the tornado watches and warnings my entire life before Disco joined the Army. Back to the tropical storm. For goodness sakes, it was just rain. A little wind and a lot of rain. No lightening really. I ran to and from the store both days to get typical storm fare of frozen burritos and rocky road. We even hung out in the back yard for a bit, in the rain, hunting an annoying frog that just wouldn't shut up.
Here comes the threat of a hurricane watch for the panhandle. Cat 1. If people were freaking over that measly tropical storm last year, then all this panic for a cat 1 hurricane has to be unwarranted, right? I've been sitting at home doing stuff like painting my nails. I figure we have a generator hard wired to the house, so I don't really NEED to buy canned food because I can still cook and I will still have a fridge. What we are worrying about is flooding. We have gotten so much rain this summer, it's ridiculous. The mower was stalling on Disco when he was cutting the grass because the ground is so saturated. And you can't wait for it to dry out to cut it because it will rain two hours later. So, if the ground is already holding too much water, where is all this expected rain supposed to go? Probably in my house. I spent all day yesterday putting all my documents in water proof sleeves, and all my loose photos in waterproof tubs. I will probably spend Tuesday unplugging electronics, rolling up the rugs and placing everything we own on top of beds, dressers, and counter tops. Maybe it's unneeded, but that is how I plan on coping with my anxiety about the storm.
Today I decided I probably needed to put some food in the house, grab extra water, and extra baby wipes in case water becomes an issue I can bathe myself with the Boom's poo cleaners. On my way to the store I drove the long way through the neighborhood. People already have their windows boarded up. Okay, so maybe this hypothetical hurricane, that may or may not actually affect Pensacola, needs to be taken more seriously on my part? Off to the store I went. I tried to avoid "the Mart" at all costs. Down here our Target isn't a market, but they carry a large food section including frozen and refrigerated foods. I hardly ever see anyone grocery shopping there, so I figured that would be my best bet to not have to deal with crowds or cleared out shelves. I immediately ran into another mom around my age grabbing water who had just been at "the Mart" and said to not waste my time over there. During our whole conversation I kept seeing people briskly walk past me towards the food section, and I started to panic myself that I wouldn't be able to get what I needed. Sure enough I overreacted. Target had everything we needed. Except frozen burritos. Damn it, I'd have to go to "the Mart". Talk about Apocalypse style shopping. I apologize if you need toilet paper, because you won't be able to wipe your bum for a while. There was none in stock. Five shelves of bleach were empty. They were hauling generic water out of the back stock room like it was the last fresh water on God's green Earth.
People around here are panicking. They are all in mission mode. I'm still on the fence. I'm without anxiety for the moment, but I feel like I should be anxious. I'm supposed to be anxious. So I'm anxious about not being anxious. On the plus side, we are all enjoying the music selection The Weather Channel plays during the local forecast. Death Cab for Cutie seems to be one of their favs.
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