And So It Begins.

This has been a very quiet hurricane season and a very dry rainy season, but it looks like that's about to change. I may have a short work week. Or not. It's too early to tell where Ernesto is going, but the 5 p.m. track takes it in around Tampa Wednesday-Thursday, and they're guessing a Category 2. This is all subject to change, but it looks like we're going to get wet.

When a hurricane goes into the Gulf I feel bad about wishing it away from Florida, because once the storm makes it into the Gulf somebody's going to get hit - it's just a question of where and how hard. I am worried about Ernesto coming in around Tampa and my mother's house getting hit hard, but she's in the area they evacuate the coastal people TO, and during 2004 her lights stayed on and mine often didn't, and her shingles stayed on and mine didn't. She has stocked up for the storm and is prepared to ride it out. I thought about bringing her over here but she isn't asking for help, and her lights stay on better than mine do. It's just another example of why I wish they'd moved over here while my father was in relatively good health. I'd feel better if she lived a couple of miles away instead of a couple of hours.

We're in pretty good shape here, storm prep wise. I'll send Girlchild to Publix tomorrow to grab dry cat food, a couple of bags of charcoal and a few other things, then we're set for whatever. I have lanterns and batteries and two five-day coolers, (actually 36 hour coolers in this heat) and if it looks like we're on for Wednesday or Thursday I'll freeze some water bottles and bag the ice in the icemaker. We aren't supposed to get rain tomorrow so I'll thaw some chicken and grill it. My only real concern is eating the expensive stuff in the freezers. I don't care if I lose a few bags of frozen veggies but it sucks to lose a couple of pounds of tiger shrimp. I think it'll be Tiger Shrimp Tuesday, just in case. Aside from that very sucky 5 days without power after Frances in 2004 we haven't had a major problem with long power outages, I'm just superstitious about leaving expensive food in the freezer. I had gone to Costco not long before Frances, and my freezer had steaks and shrimp and all sorts of pricey goodness. I was in Tallahassee, so I sent Boy to clean out my fridge and take whatever he wanted back to his house before the storm hit. They also cleaned out what passes for my liquor cabinet. "A hurricane is coming! Save the tequila!" I hear it was a good party.

I've been knitting a lot but have very little to say about it, and didn't take any pictures. Spent a lot of time on the phone, not enough on the elliptical trainer. I continued the process of cleaning out the big giant computer armoire yesterday, and cleaned out more shit than my mind could grasp. Manuals for vacuum cleaners from over ten years ago. Not one. Like, three. However, the manual for the Oreck I actually OWN wasn't in there. It went like that. I was exhausted yesterday, because I hate filing with a passion beyond words, and spending a Saturday afternoon doing it was just the ultimate in lousy. But it is done, and the cabinet is not totally empty but much closer to empty now. I can email the consignment shop this week and if we all don't blow away, maybe they can come get it next weekend if they want it. If they don't want it I don't know what the hell I'll do with it.