Phoebe Kate

Buying canned goods, bread, bottled water, extra flashlights and lots of D batteries, candles, cookies (Oreos and chocolate chip, to be specific) and whiskey.

Making sure everybody has their meds for at least a week.

Filling up the bathtubs so we can flush toilets if the power goes out, taking with it our pump.

Hauling into the garage all the patio furniture and trash cans.

Turning the thermostat down 10 degrees to 57.  For every hour without power and A/C, the temperature rises one degree in our house.  I’ve just insured ten extra hours of comfort before it starts to get sticky and airless in this 2-floor dwelling. 

Doing extra laundry so we have plenty of changes of clothes if our house turns into a sweat box.

Using paper plates and party cups.   

Keeping the cats in one room so I know where they are and nobody falls over them when the power goes out.

Cooking up any pricey food in my refrigerator for lunch and dinner – steak, frozen shrimp, anything I don’t want to run the risk of getting spoiled if we’re without electricity for more than a day or two.  I must say we feast rather well on the eve of major storms.

Repeatedly reassuring my mother-in-law (who lives next door to us) that every tornado warning issued by NOAA for our general area does NOT mean she’s going to fly up into the sky like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz. Tornadoes on the coast = water spouts.  Water spouts = a possible problem for boats and beach residents.  We live 5 miles inland and don’t have a docked boat.   

Also repeatedly reassuring my mother-in-law that we live in an area that does not flood because it’s the ONLY hill in our county and is 35 feet above sea level. Unless we get a tsunami, storm surges don’t affect us.

Reminding my mother-in-law on an hourly basis that she’s lived here for 10 years, gone through numerous hurricanes and not gotten swept out to sea, sucked up into the sky or stuck in harm’s way.

Making sure my book light has new AAA batteries so I can spend the storm some place else, at least mentally.

–phoebe kate