Well, it's just about all anyone is talking about and so I must add my bit about Hurricane Dolly!
What a difference a week makes.... we spent all of last week out at South Padre. Friends had given us the use of their condo a block off the beach and we had a very nice "mini-vacation". I came back a few hours early on Friday morning and hit the ground running with several cake orders for the weekend. On top of all the business with the cakes we were preparing for Wade to leave for Dallas for two weeks as he's working on his Doctorate of Ministry. He left on Sunday right after church and arrived Sunday night around 9:30 p.m. Monday morning the kids and I were starting out our "lazy" week by my catching up on laundry... I didn't even turn the television on until around 10:30. When I did what a surprise I got when there printed across the bottom of the screen was "Hurricane Watch."
I quickly turned over to the Weather Channel and saw that this thing, "Tropical Storm Dolly" was headed directly for us with plans to come ashore on Wednesday -- two days. All I could think of was the Wade was gone... and I didn't know how to put up the window boards that were in the attic... should I take the kids and leave... would our house flood? ...or blow away? I texted Wade, "Hurricane!" and he texted back, "I'll call you at lunch". I texted back, "HAVE YOU SEEN THE WEATHER? IT'S COMING! WEDNESDAY!" ummm, my cell phone rang... (nothing like a little panic, huh). He and I talked it over and he calmed me down. I talked to several friends of ours in church who all assured me that it was going to be okay. If Dolly remained a Cat. 1 they wouldn't even board their windows. I finally felt a little more calm. The kids and I went to wally world to stock up on a few things that we needed. We were already pretty well prepared but I wanted to pick up another couple of gallons of water, a few more batteries and a couple of things to eat to see us through this little storm. When we got home Monday night the kids and I cleared out the back yard of all our lawn furniture, BBQ grill, etc. and moved everything that would blow away into the garage. We worked really hard! I was so proud of the kids.
Tuesday morning arrived and Dolly still wasn't even a Hurricane. I had a wedding cake consultation which was a lot of fun and they even booked the date before leaving! After that I thought I would go by the bank and then out to get our allotment of sandbags for the back doors. We got in the car line for sandbag distribution -- about an hour and a half (and one mile) later we pulled up and were so tickled to see the youth group from our church out helping to fill sandbags and put them in people's vehicles. Wow! I was so impressed with the work our students were doing. The sky was already getting dark and the wind was blowing -- yep, I think Dolly was really coming. I began to think more about putting up the boards on our windows... I saw many people "boarding up" as I drove through town. But many people that I talked to also weren't worried about it... When we got home Adam and I went up into the attic to look at the boards, me still considering whether or not to try and put up the ones on the biggest main windows... they were too heavy and too difficult for Adam and I to get down out of the attic. I figured if our friends weren't worried about boarding their own homes I didn't want to bother them to come help us board ours, so we didn't. We did go ahead and take duct tape and put bix "X's" on our back patio windows and we put our sandbags around our back doors. We were set...
Then as I listened to the weather guys talking about hurricanes setting off tornados... that became my new worry! Wade and I had already talked about the safest place in the house for us to go in the event of a tornado. Well, me, always wanting to be ready (haha) I told the kids we were going to build a tornado tent. I found the spot and put some sleeping bags and pillows down on the floor. Then we have this great big, brown mattress like thing that folds up into a loveseat. Wade has had it since college and it's pretty comfortable to sleep on - flattens out to a queen size bed. I fixed that up like a tent over our sleeping bags and told the kids, "Okay, let's all get in and see if we fit!" We all got in and laid down and pulled the big mattress down on top of us. It was fun. But I knew that it was "ready" and if we had to quickly get it in, we could. We got out our oil lamps and trimmed them and filled them up and tried them out. We got out the radio and put in fresh batteries and new batteries in the flashlights. We were ready for Dolly! That evening after the kids were in bed I spent some time just playing around online while waiting for "the storm." Finally went to bed around midnight and "all was quiet."
Wednesday morning I woke up and looked at the clock, it was 7:00 a.m. I heard Rachel rustling around (the kids sleep in my room while Wade is gone and especially when we are expecting a STORM) and I looked over and saw the bathroom light go out. I thought maybe Rachel had gone to the bathroom and shut the door... but she was still asleep -- I looked back at the clock and alas... the power had just gone out. Ah, finally.... Dolly is on her way!
(to be continued.... sorry, haha)
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