It's A Waiting Game- Irene

What are the chances of being hit by 2 major natural disasters in a week? Earlier in the week the East Coast experienced a 5.8 earthquake and now we're preparing for Hurricane Irene! Hurricane warnings have been issued for our area, so now it’s a waiting game. When hurricane warnings are issued it means that the storm is expected within the next 36 hours.

This is a slow-moving storm so it grows as it moves north. The hope is that it will slow down as it hits landfall in North Carolina. Where it is expected to hit is not too far away from Virginia Beach, where we lived in the 1980's and where Sophia was born. I can only imagine the extent of flooding they will be likely to experience!
My sister lives on Cape Cod, and they are also expected to be in the path of this hurricane. Ironically, Irene is one of her middle names!!!
In the meantime, we try to prepare as much as we can. Yesterday, Ed drove to Kentucky to be with his mother, who is not doing well and has most recently been in and out of a coma, so I am guarding the home front with Lili and Phil. Today I’ll do some cooking and prepare food that will taste good even when cold. We are expected to lose power for several days. I do hope it won’t be as bad as they say it might be on TV, but then again I’d rather prepare for the worst and hope for the best!
For more details about this storm see the article in the Wall Street Journal by clicking the link below:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111904787404576532171799510228.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

Heat Waves, Earthquakes & Hurricanes

I left Las Vegas when it was 111 degrees and the weather channel posted a heat advisory. That’s when you know it’s hot! The East Coast experienced a good sized earthquake on Tuesday, and now I’ve come home to prepare for a potentially large hurricane.
The last hurricane we experienced was Floyd in 1999, and that one caused us to have to replace our roof as the storm damage tore up the shingles the gutters from the house.
Today I filled up my gas tank, bought groceries, and replenished the flashlight batteries. Tomorrow I’ll put away the yard furniture and secure anything outside that could possibly fly away in the wind.
People living or vacationing along the coast have been told to evacuate low lying areas. Luckily we live on higher ground, but the ground is saturated because we’ve had a wet August and so flooding is predicted. As of right now, the weather channel predicts that we will experience the worst Saturday evening into Sunday.
I’ll try to keep you updated as we go along…