[ hurricane! ~ part 1 ]

sooooooo...what a week! first an earthquake, tuesday, & now a hurricane on the way! i have to say i was very disappointed to have missed the earthquake (but that's very easy for me to say knowing it was just a tremor where i live). but i'm so curious what it would have felt like, how i would have reacted etc etc. but luckily for me i was driving to the beach, with my boys & my friend, & didn't feel a thing.

& now talk of hurricane irene... at first i didn't pay attention when it was mentioned thinking it's just another storm blah blah blah... but then i went to do my weekly shop at wegmans last night & there was something strange in the air... apart from the fact they had completely sold out of water & batteries... & their produce section was less than a quarter full...

we live in an old house & our garage & basement have a tendency to flood, so i thought maybe i should get a couple of sandbags. i call home depot & they assure me they have 1/2 a palette left. i had to take my son, flynn, for his 4 year old check up & decide to go buy them after that. 1 hour later & a very upset little boy with 4 colorful band aids on his legs (shots) all the sandbags have gone... i call 2 other stores & they don't have any left either.... groups of people are waiting for staff to open up cardboard boxes to be handed the torches (flash lights) inside.

i'm starting to wonder, is this panic or maybe they know better than me...

after calling another store that's local to me, a young lady said she will put 10 sandbags aside for me... HOORAY!

i decide to go pick up some bottled water ~ a ton of others have the same idea, but it's not just water... carts & queues are getting bigger & bigger.

we arrive at my local hardware store to pick up the sandbags ~ i walk in & ask, the girl who took my call overhears & says she has them behind her till... i'm thinking wow ~ that's so nice of her to carry 10 heavy bags for me, how is she fitting them there behind her counter? i pull out my credit card & she announces the total, $1.09 please... i said no that can't be right, 10 bags. no no that's correct she replies & looks down at the counter at these empty white bags... what are those? i ask... sandbags was the answer... but where's the sand? oh you have to buy that separately... noooooo i'm thinking, seriously?

so i end up buying 10 bags of kids play sand so at least my boys can have some fun afterwards...

i get home & think this isn't enough... more is needed for the side of the house that always ends up like a river into the basement.

also my lovely friend that is very level headed has text messaged me saying that she normally doesn't take any notice of the weather reports, but she has it on good authority that there will be lots of rain/flooding & we should prepare to be without power for maybe some considerable time...

so we pile back into the car back to home depot (that now has more sandbags) & buy another 15. let me tell you, 60lb sandbags are not the easiest things to move around, especially when you have a sleeping child in stroller & i found lots of them were leaking when picked up...

each time i go out there are more & more people buying supplies (it was on level with christmas time)

you know at least this should be good for the economy! (but i suppose any damage will cancel that out)

i was slightly worried about the weight in my car so i call up my mechanic, my car needs some major work & with the excuse of discussing when i should schedule that i drop into the conversation that i have 850lbs in my boot (trunk) do you think that will be ok? mmmmmm, he said, just take it easy...

it was a lovely calm evening & i really enjoyed being on the porch swing with the boys waiting for mike (my husband) to get home. it's really hard to imagine in a couple of days the weather will be the opposite.

mike puts lots more screws in the playhouse roof that he made, so hopefully that will stay on! & i bath the boys, or try too... our hot water packed up!! what...? the hurricane hasn't even got here yet!! so that will hopefully get fixed tomorrow.

also tomorrow we will have to get everything we care about off the garage floor... (not looking forward to that) & make sure garden furniture, outdoor stuff is put away... time to batten down the hatches!