The countdown starts...

Well, here we go again...looks like I'm going to be pretty busy the next 5 days or so as we prep and wait for Hurricane Irene.  She's set to hit us darn near directly as of this morning, and not as a wimpy Category 1 storm either, she's expected to make landfall as a Cat 3 or even 4, which would be devastating for anything in her path.  I've been through it before many times, and it's not the storm itself that I worry about, but the aftermath.  The downed trees, no electricity (we've gone up to 9 days here before), no fuel or ice to be had... that's the stuff that I worry about.  I hope you can bear with me the rest of the week as I get behind on reading everyone's posts and blog about random stuff since I probably won't be doing any gardening or fall planting until after she passes.  Hurricanes are like hired help in the fall garden, I've had all my summer stuff not only knocked down, but completely ripped out and blown away so I don't have to do it, LOL!  The important part is to clear the way for her, so I'll be ridding the garden beds of piles of tomato cages, stakes, and anything else that might appear later as jewelry sticking out of house siding or people's limbs.  

Know what's going on here?  

Popcorn popping is a real treat in this house, since the smell of it makes me ill it doesn't happen too frequently, but when I say "ok", it becomes a major event.  As soon as Sprocket hears the air popper start whirring, she takes her place... our popper is known for shooting popcorn all over the kitchen LOL, great fun for neurotic herding dogs with no sheep!

I went outside this morning to try and get all I can harvested before Irene takes them for herself...

I have loads of Ancho Peppers and Butternut squash that is still out there ripening, I figure I can give them until Friday evening before they need to come in to be put up somehow before the storm.  Now I'm off to gather "stuff"... we're good on all things pretty much thanks to my prepper personality, but things need to be organized like putting lamp oil and candles in strategic places and packing the car with camping supplies, water, food, dog food, important papers, fuel, etc should the need arise to leave.  Leaving here is not generally something we do since we essentially live on an island with only tunnels and bridges leading to higher ground, so anyone evacuating will most likely be stuck in traffic and run out of gas before they get anywhere LOL.  Plus, the bridges and tunnels are the first things to close due to high winds, so any evacuation orders are usually made too late, or way too early.  Will be busy doing outside prep this week like hauling out the generator and locking it up with cables, filling as many fuel cans as we can and lashing down things like trash cans and lawn furniture.  

Maybe if one good thing can come from all this, the blighted soil and the insect laden plants will blow away and I can start the 2012 summer garden with nothing evil harboring within LOL!

Hurricane Summary - kinderGARDENS Week 21

Sadly, this will have to suffice for my kinderGARDENS Update this week: it pretty much involved child labor outdoors prepping for a storm, and we will all be back working this evening putting the yard back together again! While waiting for Earl last night instead of watching the Panic Channel (The Weather Channel!) we opted instead to spend the down time planning the fall garden. Hopefully we will get our seedlings and some of the fall seeds planted this weekend.

Here's a summary of the past 12 hours, I promise no more lazy video blogging after this! Looks like this is a non-event for us, so it was a good drill for the kids at least. We still have power, yay! So the following are the before, during & after weather videos. Looks like it will continue to weaken and hopefully the northeast will be spared any damage.

The above turned out to be a very breezy evening with the storm approaching, and since we were prepared for the worst already, were able to sit outside with neighbors for awhile enjoying a glass of wine while the kids played in the yard. You'd never realize watching this that Nags Head and the Outer Banks is a mere 80 minute drive via road and only about 45 if you took the beach!

This morning... Earl isn't so big and bad, after all. I heard that he diverted to Judy's homestead in Iowa of "My Freezer is Full" in the form of her daughter's messy room! She is also a participant of the kinderGARDENS contest and her teen daughter is doing a "Goth Garden" - cool idea, isn't it?!

Below is the garden walkthrough... apparently the only damage was pretty much to things that were already scheduled for removal! - I still have those horrid cosmos on the brain obviously, every time you hear "cosmos" I mean ZINNIAS! Zinnias-good, Cosmos-bad LOL. I should have a swear jar in the garden only I have to pay every time I say "cosmos".

Here's a gem for you: apparently we have a storm related death here already this morning. I would call it stupidity related. Just watched a news video with his girlfriend, she states they wanted to "go for a swim" at 1:00 a.m. and he yelled at her that he was caught and she watched him drown. Very tragic, but really-a swim? It gets better, she had her 10 year old with them! At least the child is apparently fine and did not go in the water. Smart kid!

I guess we should expect no less from a storm with a lame name like "Earl". What we need is a Hurricane Bubba, but I'm sure the NWS people would never name a storm that for fear of encouraging partying of the commoners!

I didn't have time the past two days to comment on all of your blogs, but I read them all, sounds like everyone is getting "fall fever" if there is such a thing! I may take a day or so off from the blog to get the fall garden in, you are relieved to hear that, aren't you?! :)

I'm headed over to the Inadvertent Farmer who hosts the kinderGARDENS contest and see what real gardening the other participants did with their kids this week!

A whole lotta' nothin goin on!

As of 6:10 pm, everything is great here, just starting to get gray, breeze no more than 15 mph, just thought I'd let my husband and parents see for themselves that we are doing great here! I really like this video thing, it's very lazy-blogger, I get to just talk instead of type! Don't worry, I won't subject you to it after Earl passes LOL

Late tonight is what we are hearing now.

Looks like it is really going to bang up the northeast, Kelly & Thomas - you guys okay? How close to the coast are you?

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!

Hurricane and disaster prep: it's more than just having enough beer on hand!

Warning: several long videos here! Some may find it enlightening, educational, some of you Gulf Coasters will find it repetitive, and some of you may just find it amusing! Welcome to my other side: prepper and novice survivalist! - and YES, I'm a girl! :)

I will cover some necessities for riding out the storm at home, a bit about what you would want to bring should you evacuate by car, and then lessen that even more to what you want with you in the event of a bugout (insert general mayhem/disaster here)!

Not meant to be all inclusive, there are many extras here as well as some things missing but I am constantly learning and this is what works for us thus far. You can really get into it more by visiting youTube and the internet and it gets to be quite fun actually finding out how little you can survive on, but that's another day.

Today we're talking about the art of successful hurricaning!

Battery Full! Continue on to Part 2...

I neglected to cover the first aid kit...

Are you asleep at your monitor right now? Surely not!

This idea actually came about because there are a number of spouses from our squadron that have never lived in a hurricane area before and might be a bit freaked out or unsure about what to have on hand. So to my fellow VFA-32 Gypsy gals, remember that some of what you see is geared towards all-around survival - you may not need everything here but make sure your basics are covered: food & water for 5 days, make sure you vehicle is fueled up (although in our area there will be nowhere to go!) and if in doubt, head to a shelter! If you need company or the kids are scared and you don't mind the whole bucket toilet flushing LOL, my home is always open to you, just remember to get here before the storm so as not to endanger yourselves by traveling, in the event of a direct hit, there will be trees down, water everywhere, and power lines could be in the street/water - just use your smarts and be aware! I know our guys are very proud of us and are counting on us to see our families through this and you know we'll do it - we are Navy wives, after all!

*Of special note to the Gypsies: if you do decide to evacuate, make SURE someone knows where you are headed. We will most likely be without power so try a cell phone or call and email/Facebook- something! - as soon as you get where you can safely do so. Ideally, you will tell the Ombudsman before you leave, in the event you cannot reach her or one of us, email your sailor from your location so that the info can be relayed back once power is on again.

Be safe everyone & Happy Hurricaning!

Tomorrow: Part 2 - Hurricane Prep for the exterior of your house!

here we go!

"Oh, yippee"!

...... says Erin in Virginia Beach :)

Click here for reasons NOT to plant my seedlings yet!

update on preparations to come just as soon as I finish them!

A Productive Day!

It seems that the good weather is here to stay, hooray! I wanted to get outside and work right away, but a drippy tomato on my counter told me to deal with those first! I only have 2 tomato plants left now, so it took a week of tomatoes to get enough for 1 pint of stewed tomatoes. Lots of beans to blanch and bell peppers to freeze still, but it looks like next week I will actually have time to tackle the jalapenos.

This is pretty much what the daily harvest has dwindled to now

After lunch I had intended on continuing my assault on the vegetable garden, but my attention somehow got diverted to the cosmos that are taking over the yard. It is getting to the point where it freaks me out harvesting beans because I'm afraid of a copperhead hiding out in there or the cosmo branches brushing against my neck and legs makes me jump! I didn't plant any this year, they just self seeded last year and have taken over. They aren't normal pretty little things either, they are about 8 feet tall and stems like bamboo canes. I will NEVER plant these again!

Here is part of the cosmos that I did today, I have to walk in there to get to part of the beans! Notice how much taller they are than the corn LOL! Unfortunately, this scene is repeated in 3 different areas of my yard

Anyways, I ripped a section of them out that made a mountain 4 feet tall, I guess I'll have to burn them. I then weeded that entire area, the good thing is that I seem to have started the fall chores in the most problematic part of the yard, meaning that in a few days, the worst will be over and I can then tend to the garden again, which is very tidy in comparison!

I was able to get the lawn mowed and found that in these 80º temps, it is becoming almost pleasant work again!

The kids helped me out by bringing my tools back to my shed and scooping the dog poop before I mowed so I promised them I would quit early and make a "real" dinner and they could ask their friends over. I made them Boca Bacon & Cheese Omelets, that's "real" in their book, they love "reverse breakfast" nights, and I like them because they are easy!

After their early dinner, it was playtime! They asked "is the water cold?" to which I laughed, we have well water so it is indeed cold! They played in it anyways...

That's Finn sailing down the slip-n-slide, with my neighbor laughing in the background

When I came in tonight, I found this on my desk. No doubt Finn's doing, since he is always collecting rocks and stuff for me :)

I am excited to get working again tomorrow - my energy usually comes in waves, and since I was down with a horrible migraine for 3-4 days this week, I figured I'm owed at least a week of productivity.

I would love to get my seeds and seedlings into the beds, but this is what is holding me back:

Where you see "Hatteras", that's the bullseye for us!

The big one Danielle is a good thing for us, since it is not coming here but will be offshore kicking up the waves and the East Coast Surfing Championships are here this weekend, but Earl behind it is forecasted to come straight to us, and there is Fiona right behind that one. September is typically our big hurricane season, so I kind of watch and wait for plantings... it's kind of a crapshoot and I often have to replant in October :)

I guess at some point this weekend I need to go get fuel in the cars and for the generator... the one time I don't we will get clobbered with a big one. I HATE being without electricity with a well... no power = no water or toilet flushing without hauling buckets! Some of you know how it feels. Although I think it's better here than back home where the well pump just freezes and your whole family has to move to grandma's house in town and wait it out... remember, Mom?!

Happy Hurricaning, everyone! Remember, prepare first, THEN party!