Feeling prepared or feeling silly!?! 9-11-08 9:30 pm

We are moving about as slow as this silly hurricane it cleaning up. The boys without J went outside to get fix the fence this afternoon. Bear was equipped with a screw driver and replaced all the older pieces that were rotting out. We just kept putting this off. We needed motivation and there is nothing like impeding dome to make you finish projects. We will not see rains or winds until after lunch time tomorrow so we decided to finish up inside tonight. We will go to morning Mass and then get home with plenty of time to finish up securing items in the yard. We need to make room to move the trash inside, the basketball hoops, the potted plants and then maybe even some of the loose climbing toys. The garage will be packed but we will feel better knowing our stuff doesn't hurt someone else.

We are so far inland that some people around us do nothing but laugh at those that are preparing, some pack up and leave, and hunker down with supplies and board up all windows. I can't say what we should do. Both "sides" make sense. Where we sit it is mostly small tornadoes that we need to fear. "You can't plan for a tornado" a friend said. I know she thought she was making me feel better but I grew up in the mid-west wear tornadoes take out towns. Leaving is silly because they are again running out of gas and roads are packed. The last thing you want to do is to be stuck on the highway in hurricane force winds without provisions (oh and 9 kiddos, 2 dogs and 2 cats).

We are prepared to stay but if we are without power we will not make it long. Transformers blow at about 70 mile an hour winds we are predicted to get 100 mile an hour winds. So I bet we loose power some time Friday night or Saturday morning. UGH! That is the part I hate. The heat after these storms is so intense. It is muggy, nasty, cloudless heat after it passes. I found that Rita didn't hit us but we lost power for 5 days back in 2005. The weather after the storm passed close by was horrible. It made the summer heat seam cooler. At least our MUD district has a backup generator so we will have running water until that wears out (9 days we were told today). Our sewer system runs on natural gas so unless that needs to be turned off we are good. (No that would be bad with 9 people in the house.)

So we will prepare so our friends and neighbors can laugh at us. We have food and we will eat it with or without high wind speeds or damage to our property. J is almost home from his business trip. We will all feel better when we are all home, in our clean house and feeling safe. We even got a special package of Halloween candy from Nannie and Gramps so the kiddos feel loved. We have prepared for the worse and will enjoy it when it isn't. Keep praying and thank you all for your offers of housing us. We are safer here, for now. We will update you all in the morning after Mass with those pictures I keep promising. Till morning!

Notre Dame de Prompt Secour! Haitez-vous de nous securir!
(Our Lady of Prompt Succor! Hasten about assisting us!)
Pray for us!