Monday, January 8, 2024

Being Prepared. Sort Of.


I swear to god I thought I posted this picture of the new ironing board cover which fits nicely and I do love the roses. I think I actually did put it in a post and even wrote about the amount of dust on the legs of the ironing board but then deleted it. You'd think I would have dusted those legs by now but no, I have not. The motivation factor around here has not gotten one bit better. 

I went to Publix and Costco today because we're supposed to be getting some kind of major storm here tomorrow. I mean- they've closed the schools. Lots of rain, lots of wind, possible tornados. Even my favorite meteorologist, Rob Nucatola, sounds a little concerned. And he's my favorite because he doesn't get hysterical every time a hurricane comes within four thousand miles of here. He's not an alarmist, in other words. But when he said that he was going to be bringing his wife's plants in from off the patio, not because of cold but because of wind, I got a little freaked out. 
I just read a post from the US National Weather service that contained this warning:

"Winds gusts of 40-50 mph are possible across the area on Tuesday. Given wet soils, this could result in trees falling more easily. "

Oh hell. This county is going to lose electricity for a very long time. Thank goodness for our generator but good Lord, I hope a tree doesn't fall on it. Or us, either, for that matter. 

So what have I done to prepare? 
Make sure we have enough food to last for weeks for no reason whatsoever and also, I have taken the hanging ferns down off the front porch and set them ON the porch.

That should do it, right? 

I hope so. I suppose that Glen and I should clean out the little space under the stairwell so that if we have to hunker down in there we can. I think that would be the safest place in the house. You know what? I've never seen a tornado in my life, much less been in one and I really do not want to start with that mess now. I have seen waterspouts over bays and oceans and that's scary enough. All of my kids live in relatively strong houses and apartments but Tallahassee has trees galore. I think the power situation is going to be bad there, as well as here. 

Gibson wanted me to drive him by the fally down house when he was here and I did. It has gotten even more horizontal in the last few months and I'm thinking this storm may bring it flat to the ground entirely. I worry about all of the people around here who live in trailers and not great trailers, either. 

Well, I'm future-tripping which is what I'm best at. That, and sticking my head in the sand, which is rich with irony. 

I'm getting close to being halfway through the Streisand book. She is keeping my attention. I'm just about to hear the part where she makes "A Star is Born" which I am interested in because I've always had a bit of a crush on Kris Kristofferson and I'd like to hear her take on him and what working with him was like. The way he talks always reminded me of our friend Ross's voice which is to say- oh honey, let me just shut my eyes and you go ahead and read me the phone book. I'll just get comfortable on this chaise lounge. 
Sigh. 

The McMurtry bio also continues to hold my attention although I have learned some confusing things from it. One of my favorite of McMurtry's novels is "Moving On". He wrote it at the beginning of his career when he was quite young and it's a long novel, filled with everything from rodeo competitors, to movie stars, to an old widowed cowboy who is no doubt based on one of McMurtry's uncles, to hippies in San Francisco, and also students of literature at Rice University in Houston. And their spouses. And kids. 
These are all subjects and characters that McMurtry knew intimately and he does an amazing job of bringing these characters to fully-fleshed-out life. The one character in the book who never seems exactly filled out though, is the character that I now realize was based, at least loosely, on himself. Not only was the character a little cloudy, he is a dolt, an asshole, a completely self-entitled jerk who has no idea what to do with his wife or his life. 
So that's interesting. 

It's starting to rain a little. Just a gentle patter now. As has been forecasted. 
Hopefully, I'll be able to report in tomorrow evening, alive and well and laughing at my concern. It's funny how the weather forecasts are so often perfect examples of the boy who cried wolf, but dammit- not always. 

Be well. 

Love...Ms. Moon


43 comments:

  1. glad you are prepared as can be for storm..... and hope doesn't hit you full force. You are ready as can be. Love ironing board cover! And almost halfway through Barbra book, I envy you! I just started *the Covenant of Water*...... duh.....it's a library hardback (I was *on hold* for 2 months) and just realized today..... sadly...... at 795 pages, there is no way I can finish it in 2 weeks..... can't renew cuz 180 folks on waiting list.....so have decided to purchase used copy online from AbeBooks....... only way I'll ever get to enjoy the whole thing! Be safe, warm and well....and hope to hear good news from you tomorrow or next day!
    Susan M

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    1. I am now officially over halfway through this book! Yikes! Still enjoying it, though. Good idea on the Covenant of Water.

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  2. We have pretty much the same weather forcast here in Atlanta. They didn't mention tornados, but I can read between the lines. Ugh. Is it already spring storm season?

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    1. Lots of rain. Some wind. A tornado warning. No trees down or anything.

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  3. We've got a lot of storm warnings, high winds, rain, tie down small dogs usual precautions. You can get under the ironing board if necessary. It looks sturdy.
    I've been in tornadoes including the house nextdoor losing its three storey chimney stack and seeing it scattered around our backyard. They're the drama queens of weather.

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    1. We did not have to get under the ironing board but we did spend some time in the hallway for sure. I hope you made it through your bad weather safely.

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  4. I hope you stay dry and have no damage.

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  5. Completely off topic, but I recall being in Boston and being gobsmacked at how much less daylight they had then I did in Cleveland because they are in the beginning of the eastern time zone, whereas I'm past the middle of it. Is that true for you too, in FL. In Boston the sun set at 8 pm in June, not 9pm. In December the Boston sun sets at 4 pm, but at 5 pm for me. I was thinking how this could so adversely affect SAD.

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    1. You're right about that. I just checked and our sunset is 5:52 right now. So you and I are about the same with that.

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  6. Fingers crossed, it's not too bad. We're getting winter weather now, supposed to drop to -32F by Friday.

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    1. That is not temperature for humans! I tell you this every year, woman, and still you refuse to leave that place of snow and ice!

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    2. MINUS 32F??? How are you not frozen solid??

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  7. Hopefully it's not a catastrophic storm front and all goes well. But, being prepared is a good idea.

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    1. It was catastrophic for some other places it passed through but we did okay, I think.

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  8. To be honest, tornadoes make me very wary. They are so unpredictable and can wreak some real devastation. I always find if I am prepared for an emergency, that is a guarantee there will not be one.

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    1. Yes. Rob Nucatola, MY weather guy, always says it's better to be too worried and over prepared than not worried and not prepared. But really- how can you be prepared for tornadoes?

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  9. We're awaiting weather here as well in the PNW--snow? freezing rain? 50 mph winds? all or none? As a native Midwesterner, I both adore and am terrified of weather. And definitely terrified of tornadoes (they appear frequently in anxiety dreams). I saw one once: a waterspout over Lake Michigan while my cousin Tim and I were driving home with Grandma Betty and Grandpa Tony from the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago. The sky was indigo, and the air was thick as wool. Grandma kept saying her rosary and wanted me and Tim to count the prayers as she hadn't brought her rosary beads with her; instead, Tim and I threw paper airplanes made of Kleenex at Grandpa's head. Then we looked east and over the Lake was a waterspout. It got real quiet in the car.

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    1. The water spouts I've seen have been scary as hell. Once we were actually out on the water in a boat when one appeared. We got to a little island and took shelter in an old shack but I was scared to death the whole time. Obviously, we survived.

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  10. I shall keep my fingers crossed and hope the weather doesn't hit you all too hard. Stay safe.

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  11. May Lloyd's trees stay upright and trailers stay intact. The rose-studded ironing board cover looks smashing.

    Chris from Boise

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    1. Our trees all seem to be relatively intact, just better pruned now.

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  12. We had some really strong winds a couple of evenings ago...the trees in the front garden were like whomping willows!! I don't fancy tornados, though there was one somewhere in this country a short while ago that did quite a lot of damage.
    PS. You did post a photo of the ironing board cover in its package last Thursday.

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    1. That was the ironing board cover I had to send back, I think, because it did not fit. This new one with the roses does!
      I do not like tornados!

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  13. Fingers crossed you don't get a bad storm/tornado! Stay safe!

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    1. The storm was bad but we had no tornados here.

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  14. Cripes. I just read about the tornadoes and reports of a 106MPH windgust, part of a tornado 'supercell', whatever that. It Might want to get on and do a special report, if you are able.

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    1. I heard about gusts that strong too. There was some real damage east of here.

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  15. Thanks to the weather warnings, plans with friends were cancelled today. We were concerned about them coming down from Connecticut and getting caught in the worst of the storms here in the city. Hugh winds, coastal flooding… Rain should start soon, so I guess I’ll be spending a wet day wandering the neighborhood around until the worst hits. People are worried about subway flooding.

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    1. It's like everyone's getting horrible weather today. I have a good friend I text with almost daily out on the west coast, almost all the way up to Canada and they were expecting a similar storm but with snow!

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  16. you've weathered worse hurricanes in that house but by now it's all moot. we had a front blow in yesterday evening and a huge dead limb fell out of the water oak and landed on the TV/internet cable and dragged it to the ground but didn't disconnect thankfully.

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    1. Damn water oaks. They can't hold on to their branches for love nor money. We didn't lose any big limbs but lots and lots of small ones.

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  17. Any kind of extreme weather is horrible but it sounds as
    if you are okay and I'm glad.

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  18. Best wishes for a very uneventful evening and night! We’re expecting lots of rain and high winds… to wash away all the snow from this weekend!🙄 xo, Rigmor

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  19. I am glad to learn that the storm passed by quite normally. Shame you didn't get to spend last night under the stairs with Glen. What would you have done there? On second thoughts, please don't tell me.

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  20. A little concerned seeing no Tuesday evening post...

    Chris from Boise

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  21. I'm glad to see from the comments that you're OK. The newspapers carried images from Panama City Beach that looked pretty awful. Hope your family members and animals are all well too!

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  22. Glad you are safe from the storm. We had a dumping of snow but soon it is supposed to get really, really cold. Not looking forward to that!

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