Hurricane Preparedness Part 2 : Outdoors!

I'm still here! (you winced, didn't you?)!

On to Part 2 of my hurricane prep video: The Exterior of the Suburban Homestead

(sounds like an eVillage title, doesn't it?)

This part of preparing I personally save for last. I prepare my family for survival first, all else comes second. A very necessary second, though, since improper preparation outdoors can easily cause a lot of property damage to your home, injury to your family and the same to your neighbors. Speaking of, I will probably have to spend an additional hour picking up my neighbor's messy yard, ugh - just to protect my own!

So here we go!

One thing I noticed as I went about my chores this morning is that although the storm is still hours away and the wind and skies are calm as can be, the birds are eerily silent. Usually I am chased by mockingbirds and followed around by waddling mourning doves, I didn't see them today. I came across several bumble bees that were just sitting still in places here and there. Not flying at all, almost as if they were resting... strange, but Mother Nature always knows first!

The latest update is that it is still a strong category 4 storm, winds at 140 mph. The eye has shown recent signs of weakening, which is a good thing, but at the same time the eye has also shown signs of spreading/blurring a bit meaning that the wind field will expand. The outer rain bands will arrive in a few hours here, and I expect we will be off the grid by 11:00 p.m.

Our area is home to the world's largest Naval Station so one interesting evolution going on right now is the readying of over 3 dozen naval ships to head out to sea. This is done every time we are threatened with a severe hurricane. The ships are actually safer out to sea than if at their moorings. You can imagine the damage that could be done to both ship and pier systems if battleships, carriers, etc were allowed to thrash around in port! This also happens with all the aircraft at the Naval Air Stations here, they will all be flown out of their hangers usually to another Naval Air Station in FL or PA to wait out the storm. The hangars here are like sheet metal kites waiting to be flown... could damage a lot of aircraft if they were left here. I don't think all of them leave, however... there are literally hundreds of fighter jets, helos, prop aircraft, etc in our area and the number may actually be higher so I imagine logistically that would be impossible. Anyway, another useless fact to amaze your friends with!

I will leave you with parting shots of the summer garden, it will be gone by morning for sure!

Just like clockwork: my gorgeous Garden Spiders arrive every September and set up housekeeping in my peppers and tomatoes... hey, I coulda used you guys a little earlier this year - it was squash bug city out there!

Finally was able to capture those yard long bean blossoms, grow these and you will never have to search for your beans again!

Thanks for all the well wishes on my last post everyone, fending for ourselves without hubby here is hard, don't be fooled by all my survival-woman banter LOL.... you all have been a great support system throughout this whole deployment and you just keep on giving! I wish all of you living in the Northeast well as Earl makes it's way up the coast.

P.S. Anyone else find that watching the weather channel this week is like watching "Meteorologists Gone Wild"? It's like they are all on crack right now!