Here we are all ready for a good blow. T/S Richard is just off the coast of Belize. The rain has started - came in from the north at our place. It was fairly strong at first, now it's just a breezy drizzle. I'm sure we'll get more rain and wind as the day advances.
I went into town about an hour ago to get three 5-gallon bottles of water to top off our water storage rack (it holds six). I had put a bottle in the guesthouse and had two empties, so I wanted to get three to fill the holes. I went to my usual New World Market. They were out of Zeta brand (it's cheap), but still had Crystal (way overpriced for water). So, I went down the road to the next Chinese market with the same results. As usual, I waited too long. I decided to run up to D's Superstore to see if they still had water. On the way there, I drove by Lano's Hardware. The place was packed with people buying last minute supplies of... I'm guessing here, plywood and tools. I can't think of what else they'd need at Lano's in the line of disaster stuff.
Anyway, the girls and I (I forgot to mention my Secret Service detail came with me) got up to D's in fine shape. They did have Zeta water, and I got the three bottles. We got home just in time to unload the bottles and park the Isuzu when the rain started.
We're all ready. I've taken down the weather station and the pool umbrellas. Dianna and I moved the pool cover and reel to the main house breezeway and tied it down. I moved the BBQ under the breezeway and turned Cody's wheelbarrow upside down. I have the extension ladder also in the breezeway, so if I need to remove the satellite dishes, I've got the ladder close at hand.
We've got bins ready for food and clothing if we decide to hunker down in the guesthouse. All the computer stuff is ready to go as well. We also have the kitty carriers so we can move Midas and Blue to the guesthouse with minimal effort should the need arise.
I haven't put up the plywood over the burglar bars yet. I'll wait for a substantial increase in the wind before doing that. But it's all ready to go.
Other than that, we're just standing by to stand by, waiting to see what happens. I'm guessing that if Richard stays more or less on track, we should just have tropical storm effects - that should be no worse than some of the storms we had up in the Northwest in Olympia.
I'll see if I come up with anything interesting to post later in the day. Keep your fingers crossed, we are.
Cheers,
Dave and Dianna
3 comments:
Let's just hope it a mild wind and rain and you'll spend the day reading the Sunday newspaper. Sound like your preparded and ready!--JL Oly
Wow... sounds exciting! Well, maybe from here it sounds exciting, but I imagine that where you are it is a little more nerve racking.
You didn't mention, but I hope you filled up on the beer and other hurricane supplies also?
Good luck and take very good care. Right now at 3:30 EST it looks like you'll be spared the worst winds.
Julian
Hi Jeanette, It's pretty mild so far, but as the afternoon progresses, the wind is kicking up a bit. Enough that I put up the hurricane shutters.
Sunday paper... That's a laugh! We have a few weekly papers, a couple of them run by the political parties and that's it. No local daily papers. Once in a while you can find a paper for sale from somewhere else but not regularly. I do get to read the comics, but online only. Hey, it's the third world.
Cheers,
DnD
Hi Julian,
Yeh, it is exciting. Away from the hum drum. I don't think it's nerve-wracking, but I do check the Intertubes hourly for updates, etc. But then, that's what I did for a living too, so I'm used to it.
By golly, you do have your disaster priorities correct. Yes, we stocked up on beer (about 4 - make that 3 cases. Ones gone), bottled water (we have 35 gallons of that), butane in two large tanks - filled, car is full, generator full and oil checked and 15 gallon gas reserve for it, fresh supplies of kitty and doggie food, fresh supplies of meds, etc. Plenty of canned food for us as well. We're in good shape.
So far so good. We're keeping our fingers crossed, just in case.
Cheers,
Dave
Thanks all for your thoughts and good wishes. We appreciate it. I'll have some shots of the hurricane shutters in a bit. - d
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