Tag: hurricane

It’s Been A While

There’s a hurricane headed our way. They’re calling it Hurricane Ian—a small name for what has the potential to be a big storm.

It’s been a while since we’ve had a such a storm, and we might’ve become a bit complacent around here. But I remembered to buy a family pack of Little Debbie oatmeal cookies and enough bottled water to get us through a couple of weeks just in case there’s an extended interruption in the water supply.

We’ve packed “go” bags, in the eventuality that the storm becomes a brute, but we’re hoping it’ll weaken as it nears. Best case scenario would be for it fizzle out before it does too much damage anywhere.

Good vibes appreciated.

Peace, people.!

Hurricane Leslie

My actual real life name is Leslie. Supposedly I was named for a character in a novel that my grandmother read before my birth. Although I can’t be certain, I’ve always suspected that novel was Edna Ferber’s, Giant, which was published in 1952 and became a major studio film in 1956, the year I was born.

The absolutely gorgeous Elizabeth Taylor played the part of Leslie Benedict, and when I saw the film I felt such a sense of vindication. Finally here was a character with my name, and oh, what a character she was: Beautiful and smart and fashionable. It bothered me some that her name was pronounced with a “z” sound while mine has the softer “sss” pronunciation, but I was willing to overlook that. After all, my grandmother read the name in a book. The movie folks likely had gotten it all wrong.

Leslie wasn’t a common name for girls back in my day, and it’s never going to make the top ten list for female children, as names like Linda and Sophia, Ashley and Jennifer have over the years. I have met a handful of female Leslies, though, some pronounced with an s others with the z. We’re a pretty select group.

Yesterday Studly Doright sent me an email with information about another Leslie.

Welcome to the club, Hurricane Leslie. I hope they pronounce your name correctly.

Peace. People.

Recognition

We know she’s out there

Churning on the horizon

Her name on our lips

Feverish dervish

Frantic dance for the ages

Spinning tirelessly

Irma, we feel you

Whatever slights you’ve suffered

We will bear your pain

Not that Desperate

Doright Manor where I reside with my husband of forty one years, is in a rural neighborhood about ten miles west of Tallahassee, Florida. We have a Havana, FL, address, but we are only slightly farther from Tallahassee than we are from the little town of Havana. On most days I drive into Tallahassee at least once to walk, shop, or sometimes to take in a movie.

The knowledge that Hurricane Irma will hit near us early next week has me feeling antsy, and even though I’ve already shopped for supplies I began to worry that I might have forgotten something. So yesterday I drove over to see the movie “It!” and followed up with a trip to a Publix grocery store.

My hope was that I could purchase some canned meat meals, such as tuna or chicken with crackers and mayonnaise, that require no refrigeration. I’d looked a couple of days ago, but the store was completely out of those items. The clerks thought they’d get some more in before the storm, so I deemed it worth a trip.

Here is what the canned meat aisle looked like:

I wasn’t even a little bit tempted by these delicacies:

Canned squid! Who knew? I just know I’m not that desperate.

The store was busy, but the mood was generally buoyant, even though now it looks as if Tallahassee will get a bigger piece of the storm than was previously predicted.

Studly Doright and I still aren’t sure if we’ll evacuate ahead of Irma. I’m leaving the decision up to him. I call him Studly Doright for a reason, so I’m in his capable hands.

Please send good vibes out to all those in the direct path of the storm, especially to one of my British blogging friends and her husband who are vacationing in Florida. They had to evacuate the Keys and may have to go to a shelter in Miami if their hotel has to be vacated.

Thanks for reading. I have absolutely the best followers. Peace, people.

Irma

Hurricane Irma is barreling down on the U.S., and I have to tell her she has really bad timing. I doubt she cares.

Here at Doright Manor we’ve stored up gallons of bottled water and my favorite survival snack, Little Debbie oatmeal cream pies. I have a pantry filled with canned chicken and Vienna sausages and enough cheese crackers to get us through the first hundred days of a zombie apocalypse. Now, it’s just a waiting game.

There’s still a chance the storm won’t hit us at all and might veer into coastal Texas, which is still reeling from Hurricane Harvey. As much as I don’t want Irma to come through here, I don’t want her messing with Texas even more.

Right now Irma is a category 5 storm, and anywhere she makes landfall is going to suffer tremendous damage. The projections we are seeing show that when she reaches Studly Doright and me in the Florida panhandle she’ll still be a category 1. Many things can change still, and we are praying she’ll weaken considerably before she reaches land.

Praying for the best, but preparing for the worst. Don’t be cruel, Irma.

The Calm Before the Storm

I’m a bit fascinated by our approaching storm. Hermine is still rated as a tropical storm; although, meteorologists expect to upgrade her to a hurricane when she makes landfall tonight. 

I shot a brief video that I hope you’ll enjoy. And hey, if I get blown away, you’ll have something to remember me by. I do have two or three posts queued up, though, so you won’t know I’m gone for a bit. 

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Peace, people!

Snapshot #16

I found Little Debbie Oatmeal Cream Pies! I call this one, “Hurricane Survival Kit”.

Hunker Down

I’ve hunkered down, my friend, awaiting storm’s approach,

Supplies are purchased, including wine, my taste above reproach.

Let’s bask this day in the modern life, celebrate electricity,

For tomorrow we may lose this perk and struggle yet to see.

I’ve books stockpiled, along with food, the soul to feed in time

While waiting out the coming flood with words inclined to rhyme.

Oh, I’ll watch the tempest throughout the night, daring it to harm

And hoping that with dawn’s first light it’s fizzled, no alarm.