Ready for Irene

The patio furniture is tied down, the trash cans and other outdoor stuff is in the shed. The boat is out of the water and we went to the marina this morning to put the cover on and retrieve my car. We left it there last night after coming in from an absolutly gorgeous late afternoon and evening on the water.

The Chesapeake Bay was so calm you could see your reflection in it - truly the calm before the storm. We stayed out until about 8 PM then pulled the boat. It is in the parking lot now but it was darker than we thought (probably due to cloud cover, which had already moved in from the hurricane) and Bob couldn't see very well. He's the securer and knot person, so we went back this morning to secure the cover on the boat and bring my car home. It is a bitty thing and even only 3 feet of storm surge would have it's engine submurged if we left it there.

We got home and finished up home prep. Everything that might be movable by 50 mph wind is in side or tied down. I am getting ready to sit down for some spinning and DH just went back to bed. He got up at 5 AM to go to Home Depot to try for a generator. He got there in time, but the generators they got in this morning were the big, expensive ones and he decided (very wisely) to not spend $1250 on a generator that we will use maybe once very 5 years.

I expect that we will not sleep well tonight. We won't be nervous but the wind and rain will most likely be noisy enough to prevent good sleep. We have batteries and ice and food so we are as ready as we can be. Good luck to all of you who will be affected by the storm, especially those on the coast. Be careful. Homes and belongings can be replaced. Lives cannot.