Hi Readers,
It is raining here this Thursday morning as residents from Central Florida to the East coast of Florida prepare for the inevitable- Hurricane Matthew! It has been awhile since I’ve had to prepare for a Hurricane and so much has happened in the past two days. I really hope that this one is much kinder than Charlie was to us but whatever happens, it’s coming and we have to ride it out. So here’s what’s happened since I learned that Matthew changed its course to come visit me.
October 5th-
I was at Wal-Mart in the early morning hours, purchasing normal every day items, unaware a hurricane was targeting my area when I asked a cashier if it was general practice for cashiers without their lights on to take customers. He informed me that due to the ‘Hurricane rush’ they were just taking people but it was not a normal event. This is when I realized that Matthew was approaching and I needed to take it seriously. I then called my husband from the car to discuss the serious nature of this approaching storm and to ask if he thought we needed anything. He said water and maybe some canned foods and chips, so I headed back into the store with my shopping cart, grabbing a box of Halloween cookies to soothe my additional stress and as a reward for being pro-active when I ventured down crowded aisles to find absolutely no canned pasta, only a few cans of canned chicken in various, strange flavors (one of them was damaged) and no water bottles anywhere. What a surprise!
So, after doing all I could: purchasing 8 bottles of flavored water, 2 cases of flavored canned water, one can of chicken and tons of bags of chips and crackers, and grabbing 4 bottles of actual plain water (I couldn’t believe I found) in the small refrigerator in the check out lane, I drove home.
I then reviewed my inventory of canned items I already have at home. We have a good, not stellar, supply already and I hope it’s enough for the three people in my life I have to worry about (hubby, me and my ailing dad who lives in his own apartment).
However, I started worrying about our supply of water but I found a good tip online advising to fill freezer bags with water and freeze them. So I set about doing just that and realized that next time I will need to buy brand name freezer bags to be safe for the locking mechanism on off-brands is precarious. ** For a fun experience try filling freezer bags with water while holding the bags with both hands as they grow heavier and heavier and shifting the tap off with your mouth.
~ It’s funny the things you do when you can’t find water in the store. I started brain-storming and came up with the idea to fill my Keurig and my alternate coffee pot, to capacity, with water in case I needed to siphon some out to boil, etc. for later. And I happily found three pitchers in my cabinets and filled them all, setting them aside on the counter in front of my make-shift “water storage”.
After my hubby returned home, we took in all the decorations, wind chimes, benches and chairs from outside (it’s amazing what you have outside of your house- you never really know how much until you have to collect them) and set them in the garage and then called it a night.
October 6th-
I woke up considering what to do with all the food in the freezer and refrigerator due to power outages. Since we live in an older neighborhood, our power lines are above ground and just the slightest wind will cause an outage. With the pending hurricane there is no question we will have no power and since we no longer live near a water treatment plant or fire station, it could be days to weeks before power is restored. So, I proceeded to pack everything up in bags and transport them to my dad’s apartment. He has my spare refrigerator in his garage and since his electricity is tied in with the fire station next door his power very rarely goes out and when it does, it’s less than an hour or two before it comes back up. Thank goodness for small miracles! Now almost all my food and condiments are packed into the spare refrigerator.
But then I forgot- I also have my Hurricane Supply box in my dad’s garage as we’ve never had a chance to move it to my house.
And when I lifted the lid, I couldn’t believe my eyes!!!
4 Jugs of water! Eureka!!!! And a bunch of battery powered fans, too. It’s really the little things that excite you when a monster of a storm is approaching.
So here I am sitting at my computer, after turning down the a/c to cool the house with all the ceiling fans running too (to make the temperature as frosty as possible before the lights go out) with only routine things left to do- check the mail and make lunch while I still have an oven that works.
And so, to all you readers in the impact zone, please be safe! I will chat with you soon.
TK Lawyer 