Getting Prepared - Dean is Now Category 4 - Serious Sh**!

Today, I spent a good part of the morning running around town getting the stuff on my list in preparation for Hurricane Dean.

We've decided we're not going to put up the plywood till Monday, unless things start going gunny-bag on Sunday, then I'll go ahead and do it. We're hoping we can get by without using the plywood. It would be nice to take it with us to the new property and use it on the windows there.

• Bought 5 sheets of 1/2" plywood $58BZ each. Sr. Gomez through in a 10% discount too, and free delivery.
• Bought 2 5-gal water bottles $15BZ each, and the dispenser stand $29BZ.
• Bought 40 nuts, bolts, and washers for the plywood. Have to go back tomorrow and buy 40 more washers... Duh!
  
• Bought roll of large plastic bags - to cover electronic/electric appliances, etc.
• Bought 52 lb.bag of Pedigree dog food, and two bags of Friskies for kitties.
• Hit the ATM for ready cash for the aftermath. I'll hit it again tomorrow.
  
• Bought candles and a cool black and brass Dietz hurricane lantern. Still need to stop at the Texaco and buy some kerosene for .
• Gased up the car and scooter.
  
• Still need to buy AA batteries for camera and radio.
• Found Solar/hand-crank/battery-powered radio. Opened lots of boxes.
• Found cordless drill - used it at the property site to install a couple of boxes on the tower.
• Bought some soup, Spam, and Ramen.

I think we're in pretty good shape here. We told Cody that if they needed to evacuate, to bring the whole family to our place, so a lot of what we got is intended to take care of a whole passel of folks, not just us two Gringos.

The forecasts are calling for Dean to clip the tip of the Yucatan and miss us. I hope they're right, but... My dad was a forecaster 20 years in the US Air Force. It is the only profession where you can be wrong 80% of the time and still keep your job, n'est pas?

So, we're doing the preparedness thing. I'd much rather get it now, not need it and save it for next time, than to wish we'd bought it when things have really hit the fan. But, that's some of my background kicking in too.

There's still plenty of time for Dean to do some really weird things. Direction changes, speed changes, intensity - like going to Cat 5 - it's an open book so far. Nobody really has an authoritative and factual idea of what Dean is going to do. They think they know what it is likely to do, but usually with these things, as we've seen in the past, the prognosticators forget to inform the hurricane, so it just does what it damn well pleases, when and how it pleases too.

I'll run into town tomorrow, fetch the AA batteries and the kerosene, and I might just hit the ATM again, just so we have some ready cash in case it's needed.

We have a great little first aid kit in case of any injuries. That's about all I can think of right now. I'm sure I've forgotten something that will become apparent as the event unfolds. Hopefully nothing important!