HURR we go again - hurricane season! Hello, Irma...

I'm not panicking yet.  The majority of people on my FB are panicking thanks to all the speculative news stories being pedaled as fact.  But I'm definitely keeping more of an eye on it than I did with Matthew last year.  I didn't pay much attention to Matthew, because NC hadn't been blasted with a hurricane in so long, I figured it probably wouldn't amount to much.  Obviously, I was extremely mistaken.  Andy and I got trapped at his parents' trailer, and had to spend the duration of the storm being some of the only people remaining in the neighborhood.  We eventually make a run across the road to his grandma's somewhat sturdier double wide.  I watched in horror that night as my barn owners shared pictures of the barn 3ft deep in water.  In the neighborhood, the flood water kept creeping up closer and closer to us too, but by some miracle the trailers were on the highest point of land in the neighborhood and it didn't reach us.

I will be watching.  I'm not worried about it, because quite frankly there is nothing I can do about anything regarding a hurricane.  Other than sensibly prepare.  I think I'm going to stock the pantry tomorrow afternoon, because I have a feeling people are going to take this one a little more seriously (like myself) and do the bread and milk ritual early.  So that they can make their milk sandwiches.

I understand bread.  That's one of my "power might go out" staples, nowadays.  I remember the morning after Matthew, we worked up the courage to look outside.  To our amazement, the flash flood water had already receded.  It was freezing cold and still very windy, but the sun was coming up and the storm clouds were slowly disappearing off into the distance.  We carefully drove out into the world, and it was fairly apocalyptic.  Of course, as you would expect, nothing was open.  Unprepared, we had no food.  We had eaten the few granola bars the night before.  A little later in the day, a few places opened, and the lines were absurd.  Many places actually sold out of food and had to close within an hour or so.  We decided to see if we could rummage up anything at the grocery store...and ended up with PB&J sandwiches.

I'll definitely be stocking up on the PB&J supplies.  But as far as milk goes, I do not understand why people insist on buying it up before a storm.  If you are worried about power loss, why are you buying an item that requires refrigeration as your staple?  Powered milk would make quite a bit more sense.  I may grab some of that, actually.

Last year I left Amber in her stall.  She wasn't in there long; all the horses got relocated to the covered arena, the only dry place on the property.  Unfortunately, I had no way to contact them once phones started to die and the power went.  All I had to go on was the photo I saw on FB of the flooded front of the barn.  Until I made it to the barn the next day, I had no idea what was happening with my horse.  I think I'm going to ask the BO to just turn her out in there from the get-go this year, and possibly strip down her stall and secure buckets/nets/feedpans before it gets too crazy to be out in it.  I also plan on taking all my tack and equipment home, and possibly recruiting some of my barnmates to help me secure the jumps somehow in the arena.  They  literally floated away in Matthew.

If we do get hit by Irma, we are set up for a similar disaster.  With the remnants of Harvey being dumped upon us (last night was a monsoon!), and less than a week to dry out if we are hit, this water will once again have nowhere to go.  Looks like I better check the pump in my basement...

 

That's not a lake, folks!