Hurricane Irene

{photo via Nasa.gov}

We are staying inside today, nice and cozy, riding out the effects of Hurricane Irene. We're not directly in it's path, but are close enough that the rain and winds will definitely hit us hard. We spent yesterday and this morning preparing: cleaning the gutters, putting away things on the patio, filling the cars up with gas. In addition, I've been preparing for the distinct possibility that we will loose power for a couple days. I've done all the laundry, ran the dishwasher, and bought a couple bags of ice which we threw in a cooler in case we need to move items out of the fridge. Tonight we plan to sleep in the basement. The worst of the storm should hit us during the night and with several big trees around the house, we aren't taking any chances!

We seem to loose power a couple times every year, either due to snow/ice or a bad summer storm, so I'm already resigned to the fact that it might happen again. Our phones and iPad are staying plugged in as long as possible so they're fully charged! It has already started to rain outside and we've spent the morning with the T.V. on, wandering in and out of the bedroom to see weather updates.

Now that we're prepared, we plan to spend the rest of the day playing games, maybe baking, and watching non-stop coverage on the Weather channel. Nine years ago Hurricane Isabel blew through. That was a big storm for us with lots of limbs and debris down in the yard, and we lost power for five days. Hopefully this one won't be quite so bad!