Hurricane preparation

As you're well aware unless you've been Rip van Winkle-ing or haven't paid your cable or internet bill lately, Hurricane Irma has shown herself/itself to be a huge dangerous and deadly tropical cyclone, basically destroying several Caribbean islands, and now heading through Florida.

Hurricanes are predictably unpredictable in their wandering about and in their strengthening and weakening.  A map of hurricane tracks over the years looks like a two-year-old got hold of a map and a box of crayons,

These storms generally don't come very far inland before losing steam, but we have had several make it all the way to Raleigh, the most recent in 1996, when Fran knocked out power for eight days and phone service for two weeks and generally made a mess.

So we do take hurricanes seriously here, and generally check things before they might hit.  We bought a generator a long time ago because of the frequent ice storms in the winter and hurricanes in the summer, and it has had its share of use.

During Fran's aftermath, we used it to keep the freezer going, thereby rescuing the neighborhood's shrimp, and fragments of wedding cake,

as well as charging some cell phones.  While we did save some of the neighbors' steaks and chicken, a lot of folks had a quicker solution.

One neighbor came over, coffee pot in hand, and asked if he could borrow some power.  "Yeah," he said, "it's been a couple of days now, and my wife's getting a little 'jumpy.'"  .

Another neighbor's basement sump pump shut down when the power went out, so we ran an extension cord over there also.

We also have stored food, headlamp batteries and camping stoves.  And if the water supply turns off,

though I admit that bathing in Sprite, though tingly, is a little problematic.

It's good to have a couple of tarps on hand for trees or branches through the roof, water damage being a biggie.

Some items seem a bit weird at first glance, but on second thought are understandable.  Our daughter, who lives on the North Carolina coast has kids of 10, 9, 7 and 4 years of age, and she has several audio book CD's of Harry Potter, and batteries to run the boom box.

Chocolate must be obtained and hoarded in case of such an emergency.

There are some things that a lot of people used to use that are good to have in emergencies.  They are called books, I think.  

So there are many considerations when hurricanes are threatening. 

We hope that although you prepare well for them, they veer off somewhere in the Atlantic.

Dave & Paula