Florence

Florence:  a nice ladylike name for a real bitch of a storm.

Part of the issue with storms like this (yup, up on my soapbox again) is that when they downgrade them from a HOLY CRAP CAT 5 coming ashore to a OH WELL IT'S JUST A ONE is that people let their guard down and relax.

From time to time we all do it:  figure that if the weather guys get paid for being wrong (or at least incorrect) half the time, then the chances of them being right drop to 50%.  Forgetting that it still means they have a 50% chance of being right....not wrong.

For days and days we saw her coming - in living color from weather maps, in news clips from the states that were going to be impacted, even in e mails from friends and family telling how they were preparing (or not) for the event.

But how many of us really took in the potential of this storm?

We focused on the coast and the brightest colors...and by "we" I mean most everyone.  How many of us really looked at the spread of this sucker?  And right now even inland far from landfall, things are pretty much under water four days after she "arrived" with the water either still rising or just barely starting to recede.

My point with this short post is that while Florence may only bring us rain in New England this time, our next storm may be a direct hit on us and even if it's "only" rain (and not snow) we need to pay attention and be ready to weather it (pun intended).

So look ahead and see if you have what it's going to take to get through our storms this winter.  You know they're coming, right?

So by "that guy" who can relax while watching the weather channel cause he's already.....ready!

Loose ends - that kind of summer

It used to be I thought I had things to say, ideas to share and, face it, warnings of potential problems to come in our everyday world and, hopefully, ways to be ready for them.

Somehow this summer, it all started to either come apart or disappear!

My life is normally pretty structured: go to doggy obedience school (with the dog),  garden,  try to prepare for things not going as well as hoped and somehow in the middle of all that, keep my friends close and my not so friends at least in sight!

A long time plan to go out to South Dakota in August for 3 weeks pretty much derailed the normal flow of my world.  Not that I didn't want to go, I just actually didn't know how to plan for it - me:  the quintessential planner.

Who

Knew

Along with all the non-planning (not much garden - no canning or pickling or relishes to make) there was travel planning to do - meals en route, apps to put on my phone so we could find fuel and RV parks and not just go blundering around hoping one or both fell into our laps.

What I appear to be getting at is I haven't had what I considered to be a shareable thought for months!  Every time I had a few minutes to think, my brain turned off.

So here we go into another fall season (read: hurricane season to be shortly followed by winter) and I would be remiss in my self-imposed duties if I didn't get back on that soap box and remind you:

Lay in supplies for when you can't get to the store or when the stores are empty (check out the Carolinas right now!)

Make sure you have enough water stored so if you can't get your faucet to provide any, it's not such a big deal.  Doesn't have to be fancy, just available!

Have flashlights handy and keep your car filled at least 1/2 full of fuel - if you need to leave, you need to be able to.  And you need to be able to see your way to do it!

You do not want to be "that guy" who never gets even a little prepared and is caught with his proverbial pants down and/or up that famous creek.

This is a little scattered - ok, a lot scattered - but see if you can at least put your mind to being the one who is ready when something like a bad storm hits - just think - you could be this guy!