Take Warning - Hurricane Irene

All the warnings, what to do?  Play it safe, heed the warnings?  Throw caution to the wind, ignore the warnings?  Is this another "cry wolf"?  We decided to heed the warnings.

John came home Wednesday from work and said he wasn't going back to work until Monday, still not enough to do.  Thursday, it rained most of the day.  We did get the gas cans filled for the generator just in case we lost power during Hurricane Irene.  I had been to the grocery store Wednesday, shelves stocked, no problem getting anything I needed.  Plenty of milk, bread, toilet paper and water.  I bought what we needed (bread and water from those items listed, much more on my list).  Thursday evening we watched the Redskins/Ravens football game.  Battle of the Beltways they called it.  It was a good game, the Baltimore Ravens won.  The Redskins gave the game away in the last two minutes.  In past Redskin seasons, that's been the norm, either they lose miserably or they lead most of the game and then in the 4th quarter, they give away they game by throwing an interception or some other turnover.  I'm just glad it was pre-season.  After 20 years of losses, this is suppose to be THE YEAR for the Redskins.  They'll have to prove it, I've heard this song before.  I probably want it to be THE YEAR more than they do.  Redskins in the Superbowl...that's my wish.

Friday was humid, sticky humid, like sitting in a sauna humid, yuk, I hate humidity, can't breathe.  We're gathering up everything that wasn't nailed down in our yard and putting items in the garage.  Since I am the bunny collector, alot of gathering fell to me.  After I collected my bunnies, they had to be washed down and wiped off according to John's standards.  We put the patio furniture, umbrella and grill garage and all the clean bunnies along with the wind chimes and outdoor clock in the garage, out of Irene's way.  Our cars remained in the driveway, not space for them in the garage - ha!  The bunnies await their bath.

Bunnies cleaned and wiped, stored in the garage.  Notice the patio furniture and the grill.

We also had a visitor on Friday evening in our backyard.  A fawn seemed to be all alone.  No sign of any other deer.  The Fake Owl in the foreground has been screwed down with two 6-inch screws into the brickwork and "that owl isn't going anywhere" John says.  As for the tomatoes, they're just about done for this year, great pickings for salads.

After the fawn spotted me taking pictures, it ran into the woods.  I used the zoom lens, I think you can still see her below and beyond the bird feeder in the woods.

After we got everything off the deck, I finished up drying my last load of laundry, just in case of a power loss.  You can still see where the hot tub use to be on the deck.  Hopefully, that will fade by next summer.

Hard to believe with this kind of sunset on Friday evening, there was deadly Hurricane Irene headed our direction.  We've been warned to stay off the roads and stay inside, this is the big one!  I cooked a (whole wheat macaroni) casserole with 75% fat free white cheddar cheese and fat free milk, topped with reduced fat/skim milk mozzarella cheese and whole wheat bread crumbs.  We had it for dinner Friday and Saturday nights.  I made two 13x13x2 pans in case the power went out.  It would be easy just to microwave (we have a generator) something for meals.  I have one pan left.

The Saturday Walking Group was cancelled posted on the website, due to Irene.  We usually have a back up plan to walk in the shopping mall, I wonder if it closed?  We have a gorgeous forecast for the upcoming week, low 80s and low humidity - May weather again, woohoo!!  I'll be back to walking again.  I've already exceeded my Walker Tracker August goal.

Almost 10pm Saturday evening.  It's been a rainy day with a little wind, gusts maybe 15-20mph.  Not the "take cover, here comes the big one" that we were warned about.  Oh well, better to caution on the side of safety I suppose.

Our DVD set of Season 8 of NCIS ordered from Amazon arrived Friday.  Six disks, four episodes per disk.  We've made it through two disks today.  John is now watching the NASCAR race.  I've been glued to the news and The Weather Channel.  Those poor folks in the coastal areas of Virginia and North Carolina, so much damage.  They are reporting eight deaths as well.  I hope the folks in that area took heed to the warnings.

We will spend tomorrow returning our grill, patio furniture, umbrella, bunnies, chimes, and outdoor clock to their original homes - outdoors.  Safely secured from the torrential rain and wind that was suppose to hit called Hurricane Irene.  We'll use the extra batteries and supplies purchased sometime, just not as fast as intended.  I count us among the lucky ones, we dodged one.