Thursday, September 11, 2008

Thu Sept 11, 2008 Preparing for Hurricane Ike

Pete calls before I leave for Mom and Dad's to board their house. He is on pain meds from his radiation treatment and can't drive. He'd like to stay with us or evacuate with us. I said sure and had him talk to Mary. Mary was going to work of all places. Mom and Dad are having breakfast when I arrive at their house. They have no sense of urgency. They didn't top off their gas nor did they get cash. I measure the windows downstairs while I wait. Dad has lots of plywood, they only have to be cut.

Dad and I drive to Home Depot to get a plywood blade for the circular saw. Dad finally sees everyone preparing and decides not to board. I bring down the safe and move the plants into the garage.

Mom and Dad asks if I want to leave my car in the garage. Tempting but the Camry has a higher clearance than Mary's Monte Carlo.

I return home and put away all FOD. Too bad the neighbors who evacuated didn't have the courtesy to do the same. Some even put out their trash before they left. What was surprising were the number of crews who were cutting the lawns. My grass was long but I didn't have the time to cut it right now. Unlike many of my neighbors, I don't have a lawn service.

I was cleaning the empty kitty litter containers with bleach to hold water in case we lose that.

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I didn't plan to board the windows but Mary was beginning to panic, so I looked for boards. Home Depot was packed. The line of trucks circled around the parking lot. No plylocks either. Then I remembered Dad's stash. It was more than enough for both houses. I couldn't get a hold of Dave, but Mary called and I had her send Dave to my folks. We couldn't load big boards so we took what we could. Our windows were too large so I had to piece them together which meant 2x4. Dave and went out to by them and nails. Mary kept calling each time I was doing a measurement. When they returned, Mary drove Pete to Walgreens to get his meds. I finished one window when it began to rain. Not good. Can't cut wet boards so I moved them into the garage. I had enough plylocks and I finished all the windows.

While we still had electricity, Mary finished the laundry.