Boudicca's Voice

Kind 'O Cranky

I was never all freaky weirded out by this, even though at one time it was projected it was going to be a Cat 1 and I just love the fact that the coordinates had/have it coming over my home.

It’s the frickin’ inconvenience of it I loathe. The preparation. The work. I hate that.

It’s a joke with my boys that when I’m frustrated, under my breath, I will let out a stream of expletives. They think it’s really really funny. It’s a low grumble of every four letter word ever created, in one long continuous stream, and the first time I did it, one of the boys said, “Mom! You sound like a cowboy!” Now they laugh. Today, in the traffic to get home, and get the last of my food shopping accomplished, they heard the cowboy come out. I could hear them in the back laughing, “She sounds like a cowboy again… listen to her…” Heh.

I bought my hurricane supplies months ago, but I have to make sure I have good food for the next two days when we do have power. And I have to make sure I get as many of our perishables cooked and used up as possible…just in case. Some eggs in my refrigerator will be hardboiled. Other eggs will be turned into banana muffins as I need to use up the last of the frozen bananas. Cookie dough will be cooked. Frozen shrimp will get eaten for lunch one day. Stuff like that.

All laundry needs to be done by tomorrow night and my home will be thoroughly cleaned. None of that can be done without power. Oh and no power in my home equates to no water.

If it looks like it will strengthen, shutters will go up LATE tomorrow. Unless you have shutters, you cannot possibly have a clue as to how much I hate that. HATE it. HATE. Did I say hate? Hates not strong enough. F*#@ing Hate is close. I have to post on it, complete with pictures, so y’all who don’t live down here can see what its like.

And I will be housebound. We go nowhere when a storm is coming; you don’t waste the gas. I don’t, anyway.

Even though I fully suspect we will get a Tropical Storm, we have to totally prepare for a full blown hurricane as you NEVER know. You go to bed one night thinking you’re being missed by a Cat 1 and wake up having a Cat 3 coming down you throat. And even high winds of a Tropical Storm can take out power for a significant amount of time. We have to make sure we have everything ready for no power, for who knows how long.

Which brings me to my father in law, who I do not blog on for a reason. In the event it is a hurricane, he will expect my husband to come get him and bring him to our home… and will not bring any supplies with him. He’ll be wishy washy about when he is to come, fighting it, until my husband has to put his foot down and tell him he’s coming. With Wilma it was 1 AM. Then my father in law will sit in my home and bitch at us about how I only open the refrigerator three times a day when we have no power, and will gripe about the fact that he doesn’t like the food I serve from our hurricane supplies and food in my freezer. But we must keep him with us as he is 81 years old, is crippled and does not get around well, and has Parkinson’s. He refuses to go to assisted living. But that’s a whole other blog post that will never be posted. Actually, he’s an entire blog that will never be written.

The potential lack of communication is a bummer. No phone and no internet and although I can deal with no phone, the lack of internet can play mind games with me. And although there are days I feel like it is tough to blog, when I don’t have access, I want to blog even more. I keep a journal then.

But this is all trivial stuff, is it not? I just know we are prepared and even if it were a Cat 3, I would not be afraid. I’m just pissed as hell at the inconvenience of it all. The preparation as well as the aftermath.

Posted by Boudicca at August 28, 2006 09:28 PM | TrackBack