If It’s Just Raining Like Cats ‘n’ Dogs, That’s a Win

 

Dorian is inbound. Bottled water is gone from the grocery stores. Gas lines are hours long, and every gas station I’ve seen today has a police patrol car stationed at it, probably to encourage civility. People are putting up shutters or boarding up their windows.

The problem with Dorian is that the cone covers a huge part of FL. Hey, man, don’t tell me you can predict “climate” 40 years out when you can’t even predict the path of a hurricane four days out.

We did our hurricane shop last night — which was the coolest hurricane shopping I’ve ever done.  The lovely and talented Mrs. Mongo and I shacked up the list, pulled up the Publix app, and boom!  Two hours later the driver showed up with our groceries. Who can do that in a socialist country? Well, maybe if you’re a Party bigwig.

To get out of harm’s way, we’d have to leave the state, so we’re going to ride this one out. Hopefully, we’ll be catching bands of winds and rain, but not suffer hurricane effects.

I wrung some fun posts out of Irma, but I have zero desire to work through that sort of devastation again. So Labor Day is going to be less a happy holiday, and more a hunker-down-and-pray kind of weekend. Too, we’re in our “cozy” house now (the lovely and talented Mrs. Mongo decreed that I have to say “cozy house,” not “tiny house”) so that’ll be fun.

The silver lining is that I’ve got a bit of a wee story I’ve been mind mapping for a couple of weeks without lifting a finger to actually, you know, write it. Maybe this’ll give me the time and motivation to post another story.

If I have internet. And electricity.

And a house.

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  1. Percival Thatcher
    Percival
    @Percival

    Rig for heavy weather, Boss.

    • #1
  2. RightAngles Member
    RightAngles
    @RightAngles

    Pulling for you.

    • #2
  3. Vance Richards Inactive
    Vance Richards
    @VanceRichards

    Praying that all goes well.

    Of course, a few months from now hurricane season will be over, I’ll be shoveling snow, and you will still be living on a tropical island. So, you can understand that my sympathy only goes so far . . . ;)

    • #3
  4. Susan Quinn Contributor
    Susan Quinn
    @SusanQuinn

    Praying for you, Boss, and we have more prayers here.

    • #4
  5. RightAngles Member
    RightAngles
    @RightAngles

    Even Spongebob is evacuating!

    Post image

    • #5
  6. Eeyore Member
    Eeyore
    @Eeyore

    Yea, I was thinkin’ about your Irma posts when the cone headed for the Bahamas went from being labeled S>S>S>D>D to S>H>H>M>M. (They didn’t know the water temperatures on the path?)

    Boss Mongo: Hey, man, don’t tell me you can predict “climate” forty years out when you can’t even predict the path of a hurricane four days out.

    Hey, it’s only twelve years out, Mr. Denier!!!

    • #6
  7. Boss Mongo Member
    Boss Mongo
    @BossMongo

    Percival (View Comment):

    Rig for heavy weather, Boss.

    Wilco.

    • #7
  8. Boss Mongo Member
    Boss Mongo
    @BossMongo

    RightAngles (View Comment):

    Even Spongebob is evacuating!

    Post image

    Holy Schnikes!  I was right there just yesterday!  That’s exit 17.

    • #8
  9. Arahant Member
    Arahant
    @Arahant

    To all in the path, be safe and well and God go with you.

    • #9
  10. Blondie Thatcher
    Blondie
    @Blondie

    Did they bring plenty of alcohol? That’s the real provisions. Seriously, stay safe, Boss and let us know how you faired. Your N.C. brethren sympathize. 

    • #10
  11. MarciN Member
    MarciN
    @MarciN

    I was just looking at the photographs of the empty stores in Florida. I don’t understand why there isn’t emergency preparation that includes getting extra supplies to Florida seven days ago. Gas, flashlights, ice, water. Generators.

    It’s ridiculous to see Floridians run out of things when those things exist in nearby states and simply need to be sent to Florida.

    Very frustrating.

    I hope cargo planes are being loaded up and sent to Florida with supplies as I write this comment.

    • #11
  12. RightAngles Member
    RightAngles
    @RightAngles

    MarciN (View Comment):

    I was just looking at the photographs of the empty stores in Florida. I don’t understand why there isn’t emergency preparation that includes getting extra supplies to Florida seven days ago. Gas, flashlights, ice, water. Generators.

    It’s ridiculous to see Floridians run out of things when those things exist in nearby states and simply need to be sent to Florida.

    Very frustrating.

    I hope cargo planes are being loaded up and sent to Florida with supplies as I write this comment.

    Here are some empty shelves during Harvey – everything was gone except for the vegan section hahaha:

    Vegan Meat Substitutes Stay on Shelves in Wake of Harvey.

     

    • #12
  13. Percival Thatcher
    Percival
    @Percival

    • #13
  14. Boss Mongo Member
    Boss Mongo
    @BossMongo

    MarciN (View Comment):
    I was just looking at the photographs of the empty stores in Florida. I don’t understand why there isn’t emergency preparation that includes getting extra supplies to Florida seven days ago.

    Dear @marcin, the empty stores are due to people–who live in freakin’ Hurricane Alley–not preparing in small increments outside of hurricane season.  There’s a tax holiday before hurricane season starts that suspends the state sales tax for “hurricane-related supplies.”  That list is pretty robust.  Want to get a generator–even a small one so that you can keep one lamp on and you’re fridge/freezer going?  That’s the time to do it.  Not four days before Dorian makes landfall.  

    I should have been clearer, too, in the post.  Our “hurricane shop” mentioned in the post was mostly “what are the fresh meats and vegetables we want on hand until the loss of power means we transition to our (well stocked) canned goods?”

    A knowledgeable populace shouldn’t need to surge shop in the days and hours before a hurricane, because they’ve made preparation part of their pattern of life.

    ‘Course, I did pick up an extra bottle of bourbon today.  Nothing wrong with over-prepping.

    • #14
  15. Eeyore Member
    Eeyore
    @Eeyore

    Boss Mongo (View Comment):
    A knowledgeable populace…

    As Right Angles would say: hahahahaha!

    • #15
  16. JustmeinAZ Member
    JustmeinAZ
    @JustmeinAZ

    Gosh, I feel for you. Two years ago I was in the Orlando area after my father had died and left my invalid mother on her own. My siblings and I were tag teaming her care and Irma was bearing down. It was a very scary time – good thing I had a big strong younger brother to board up the windows.

    Take care.

    @susanquinn – you’re prepping too – right!

    • #16
  17. RightAngles Member
    RightAngles
    @RightAngles

    During Rita, my relatives in the Houston area were evacuated, so they all came up to Austin and stayed with me, and we had a MargaRITA party!

    • #17
  18. Susan Quinn Contributor
    Susan Quinn
    @SusanQuinn

    JustmeinAZ (View Comment):

    Gosh, I feel for you. Two years ago I was in the Orlando area after my father had died and left my invalid mother on her own. My siblings and I were tag teaming her care and Irma was bearing down. It was a very scary time – good thing I had a big strong younger brother to board up the windows.

    Take care.

    @susanquinn – you’re prepping too – right!

    Of course! We pretty much had what we needed ahead of time. Our last trip to the store was Thursday morning–I didn’t realize I was out of pumpernickel bread and my husband loves Ritz crackers. We’d pretty much shopped before then. Plenty of margaritas on hand, too! Now big stuff is off the lanai and we just have to move the orchids either close to the house or inside; it’ll depend on how bad it looks. Thanks for asking!

    • #18
  19. Arahant Member
    Arahant
    @Arahant

    Boss Mongo (View Comment):
    ‘Course, I did pick up an extra bottle of bourbon today. Nothing wrong with over-prepping.

    Smart man.

    • #19
  20. Blondie Thatcher
    Blondie
    @Blondie

    Boss Mongo (View Comment):

    ‘Course, I did pick up an extra bottle of bourbon today. Nothing wrong with over-prepping.

    There ya go!  

    • #20
  21. Blondie Thatcher
    Blondie
    @Blondie

    Arahant (View Comment):

    Boss Mongo (View Comment):
    ‘Course, I did pick up an extra bottle of bourbon today. Nothing wrong with over-prepping.

    Smart man.

    Haha! Great minds. 

    • #21
  22. Kozak Member
    Kozak
    @Kozak

    @bossmongo ,  Dude if you can possibly swing it get yourself a whole house generator.   We had one put in last year runs on natural gas which is dirt cheap, and were on generator power for a week straight after Matthew.  My wife went from “this is a needless expense we are never going to use”, to Best Investment Ever and wanting to do commercials for Generac. 

    This year I put in the folding hurricane shutters so I can button up the house in 30 minutes.

    • #22
  23. Chris Campion Coolidge
    Chris Campion
    @ChrisCampion

    I feel for you, Master Mongo.  I live in Charlotte, NC, and (good or bad) I work for Duke Energy, which means, as a bonus, I get called up for Storm Duty (sadly, not stormtrooper duty).  This means general office jamokes drive out to the hinterlands, during hurricanes, and help support base camps – “camps” usually meaning large parking areas where line trucks of all kinds park every night after working all day to put the power back on.

    We were alerted earlier in the week that we might be called down to Florida.  That’s on hold for now.  Would sort of be bad form to send a couple hundred people south to Florida, only to have Dorian change direction and head north, then the people of the Carolinas would be caught between states, etc.

    So we’re kind of on hold for now, but I wouldn’t be surprised if a) we get the call to go to Florida, or b) we stay put, and early next week, we support a base camp somewhere in the hinterlands of the Carolinas.

    Good times.  Special friends.

    Also, I still feel for you.

     

    • #23
  24. Clifford A. Brown Member
    Clifford A. Brown
    @CliffordBrown

    We will indeed be praying for it to just rain cats and dogs, but not literally, in Florida this Labor Day weekend.

    This conversation is part of our Group Writing Series under the August 2019 Group Writing Theme: Raining Cats and Dogs. Our September theme is “Autumn Colors.” There are plenty of dates available. Our schedule and sign-up sheet awaits.

    Interested in Group Writing topics that came before? See the handy compendium of monthly themes. Check out links in the Group Writing Group. You can also join the group to get a notification when a new monthly theme is posted.

    • #24
  25. Amy Schley Coolidge
    Amy Schley
    @AmySchley

    Chris Campion (View Comment):
    I live in Charlotte, NC, and (good or bad) I work for Duke Energy

    Dude, so not only do we live in the same town, but I actually did doc review on Duke documents for the coal ash settlements. 

    • #25
  26. Amy Schley Coolidge
    Amy Schley
    @AmySchley

    Also, we’re battening down hatches at the gold mine. We’re not likely to get dangerous winds, but even just a couple inches of rain can cause big problems in pits that are 300 meters deep …

    • #26
  27. RightAngles Member
    RightAngles
    @RightAngles

    Chris Campion (View Comment):

    I feel for you, Master Mongo. I live in Charlotte, NC, and (good or bad) I work for Duke Energy, which means, as a bonus, I get called up for Storm Duty (sadly, not stormtrooper duty). This means general office jamokes drive out to the hinterlands, during hurricanes, and help support base camps – “camps” usually meaning large parking areas where line trucks of all kinds park every night after working all day to put the power back on.

    We were alerted earlier in the week that we might be called down to Florida. That’s on hold for now. Would sort of be bad form to send a couple hundred people south to Florida, only to have Dorian change direction and head north, then the people of the Carolinas would be caught between states, etc.

    So we’re kind of on hold for now, but I wouldn’t be surprised if a) we get the call to go to Florida, or b) we stay put, and early next week, we support a base camp somewhere in the hinterlands of the Carolinas.

    Good times. Special friends.

    Also, I still feel for you.

    Gah @chriscampion I never knew you had such a dangerous job!

     

    • #27
  28. Goldwaterwoman Thatcher
    Goldwaterwoman
    @goldwaterwoman

    You always make hurricanes more personal to those of us on the west coast. We really do worry about you.

    • #28
  29. RightAngles Member
    RightAngles
    @RightAngles

    Goldwaterwoman (View Comment):

    You always make hurricanes more personal to those of us on the west coast. We really do worry about you.

    We do! And remember, Boss! The safest place to be in a hurricane is an inside doorway! In Michigan.

    • #29
  30. Percival Thatcher
    Percival
    @Percival

    RightAngles (View Comment):

    Goldwaterwoman (View Comment):

    You always make hurricanes more personal to those of us on the west coast. We really do worry about you.

    We do! And remember, Boss! The safest place to be in a hurricane is an inside doorway! In Michigan.

    Iowa is good, too.

    • #30
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