What a day

We started the day a little on the nervous side, watching this storm that was growing into one of the most powerful EVER.

Rumors were running wild that they were "rationing" gas. It was not true and the news media confirmed that still people seem to go nuts when they think they can NOT have something. They also tell you to fill your tanks of your vehicles, so that never helps.

We decided to go out, and get some extra batteries and some plastic to put on the windows. In the morning when we left, the storm had been upgraded to 150 MPH, so certainly beared taking seriously. We passed several gas stations on the way that had plastic bags over the pumps saying out of gas. It was strange as you would see some out, then others with long lines, go a little further and see a station with no bags and no lines.

Everywhere we went, stores were starting to board up and it was a little freaky looking at all the buildings covered with wood.

We went to Home Depot, where is was hard to even get a place to park. There were hundreds and all in the wood department. They were well stocked with D Batteries, and some heavy duty flashlights, but not much else to do with hurricane preparation. Wood was limited to 10 sheets per customer and was flying out the door as fast as they pallets came in. Once people waited in line to pay for their wood, they then had to go get their trucks or cars, and line up outside to collect it. Lines inside and outside were both very long. We were glad we were not there for wood.

We got some supplies and my hubby went by this dept that has some silly thing that goes on a pressure washer for $50 that he picked up. I was thinking that was a waste, because at the time, we didn't know if we would even have a pressure washer or anything left next week. Guess I've been watching too many news reports.

We had put batteries in our radio and found out that it didn't seem to work well. I had not used a battery radio in years, so decided we should go look for a better one in case we lost power.

Of course there were NONE at Home Depot, so we drove out to Walmart. There all the radios were gone but one or 2 big boom boxes that took C Batteries so that was out. I have not seen any C batteries in any store in days. Seems all the stores have plenty of Double A's and D's, but NO C's. We stopped at a KMart we passed, again NO radios and NO C Batteries.

Along the way we passed up many gas stations with Bags or lines. Finally we decided to go to the mall and see if the streets were opened yet. Along the way we found one station with only bags on ON pump and NO cars, so we stopped and filled up the truck, then went to the mall.

We went to Sears electronics figuring they would have radios but they did NOT. They did have plenty of flashlights that took A and D batteries, for anyone looking for them. None of the stores we visited had any camping type supplies left, no propane, no lanterns.... the shelves were bare. We went to several other stores in the mall, all the same, empty shelves for hurricane supplies. Finally we ended up in Radio Shack where I found ONE radio. It was actually very cool, in that it had a flashlight, radio and dog leash in it, and ran on double A batteries, so I snatched it up. Surprisingly they had 2 packs of C Batteries, which I almost bought, but hubby reminded me we didn't have anything now that ran on C Batteries (LOL) . Our flashlights or Lanterns all run on D's or AA.

From there we decided to go home. Normally we would go out to eat, as we eat out a lot, however, in the back of my mind I thought we better eat from our freezer. I saw all the waste from Frances, where people and stores had to throw out tons of food, and that was sad.

All said and done, I have enough batteries to last me 10 years, if the storm does not come. I also have enough water for the rest of the year, most of it already in the freezer so it would be cold. My hubby is fussing about having to dig thru water bottles to get to the real food.

Checking the news, they were starting to talk about a slight turn to the west, which would be good for our area. I decided to make a pitcher of strawberry dacquaris and just chill. I drank a few and watched TV something I don't usually do much of.

After that, I decided to clean out my closet, which would make a great safe room as it had no windows. I found stuff I'd not seen in years. My closet is actually 13 x 9 so there is a lot of room in it. More now that I cleaned it.

These hurricanes are really taking their toll. You sort of sit and wait, and wait and wait. Then when you do NOT expect it, they turn and hit you. When you expect and prepare they go away. Really crazy. I remember thinking about all the people and thousands and thousands of $$$ they are spending on things they may not even need.

On our way home earlier, I saw one house all boarded up and it had words on the wood that said " BRING IT ON CHARLOTTE" . Charlotte was crossed out and then it had FRANCES and then that was crossed out to say Ivan. I remember thinking that I've lived here all my life and waited many times on storms that didn't come, but NEVER remember a Charlotte. I was wondering if maybe the people had moved here from another hurricane zone.

Charley from last month, devastated many of our little towns. Putting that in perspective, there was an approx population of 90,000 where it came in. About 2 hours north, in the Bradenton/Sarasota area the population is 120,000. Another hour north is US...... and our population in the bay area is about 2.4 million.

If you think about that, just the sheer devastation that hit the South Florida area will take years to recover, but if it had been here, you would have 100 times or more the mess. That is very scary.

The 11 PM news is good news for the first time in days for our area. Seems the pressure areas from the east are driving Ivan west, which may make it pass us by out in the gulf. that's good news for us but bad news for the panhandle.

I don't wish this storm on my worse enemy. So we wait more and see where it is going tomorrow morning.