After seeing saef's post about her apartment contents I got to thinking about what I would take if I had 30 minutes to evacuate.

I could get it packed up in 20 minutes and have 10 to spare, sipping a diet Pepsi :p and watching DH run around trying to decide what he's taking.

I'm kinda glad I switched to cheap generic furniture after I lost all of my "junk jewels" (curbside stuff that I had refinished myself). No heartbreak that way.

Dagmar :dizzy:

Morning all,

If the hurricane is stressing you out, Saef and Bill, I would really suggest NOT watching the weather channel. The anchors and field forecasters really overdramatize every single storm. My cable is out, but I imagine TWC is playing the same dramatic music to intro a storm coverage segment that they always play. With hurricanes they never really know, they always blow it up and dramatize. I'm not saying you should not take proper precautions and prepare to evacuate, prep your apt., etc. but watching the weather channel will probably not be good for your nerves. This is from someone who lives in Florida and like Jay has become a "weather nerd" (yes, I've checked all the models on 4 different weather websites - and BTW they do an 11:00 AM and 2:00 PM update to those models, so that's when they'll change if they're going to), but I still get extremely upset and filled with anxiety when we're facing a storm and usually end up avoiding the TV in the "countdown" hours.

Saef, as someone suggested, would it be possible to store some of your furniture with an upstairs neighbor? (Did you ever give your extra veggies to a neighbor before vacation - maybe that one will do you a favor?) Or is there any storage space or empty apts you could talk someone into letting you use? I'm :crossed: for a fizzling storm.

Allison, yipes, $11K? I flew first class too, once. Gosh it was nice. Probably never will again.

Dagmar, stay away from the chips! You do not need to eat/drink what DH eats to keep him company (I may need to you remind me of this once in a while - just sub in BF).

I've been slacking on Emma's walks this week bc I've been so tired from work, so I dropped her off at doggy day care today. I think that officially makes me a Crazy Dog Mom, lol. I don't mean it to take the place of my walking her but it will help wear her out, and she can play with other dogs since it's hard for me to let her off her leash when we're not in a fenced-in place. The drop-offs and pick-ups are tough logistically when I'm headed out in the field early but on days I'm in the office I can do it. I think someone has decided to make sushi tonight... at my house... so I suppose I will go home and clean up! I can make a gym trip during lunch today.

Have a good weekend all. Keep checking in with us while you can, Saef, and let us know if you evacuate! You too, Bill!

Along Dagmar's list of things to grab in case of emergency (earthquake here):

~pets and food
~photos
~computer (laptops are so conveniently portable) and it's backup
~water

DH and DS can fend for themselves (LOL)

I suppose insurance stuff should be high on that list as well. Makes me think it would do me good to create a database on my computer with all the names, policy numbers, contact information, etc. and store it on the computer.

Megan~$11k is for 4 tickets. I think I'm paying just over $1000 per ticket now and it would have been up to $5000 per ticket for first class. And don't you go feeling like a crazy dog mom for using a doggy daycare. I have lots of friends who do that for the simple reason of socializing the dogs and wearing them out.

I'm going to check out the weather underground, Jay. I usually rely on AccuWeather.

saef, I was once visiting Hawaii on the island of Maui and was evacuated from my hotel because of a Tsunami warning, we were taken to a golf course which was on higher ground , we were left there several hours and every so often police cars would come by giving an update such as " It is now approaching the Big Island (Hawaii) ". IT NEVER HAPPENED. I pray the same will be the case for the Eastern Seaboard. While it is wise to take precautions , I understand your anxiety and pray all will be well.

Well, I've been evacuated too. My DH and two DS packed up a few essentials and headed northwest to some relatives house where we'll most likely spend the better part of the next few days. I lived through the earthquake and now this...I mean, what the heck are the chances of two major things like that happening in the very same week?!? Stay safe everyone.

Still praying for you Saef and for everyone else in the path.

When I was a freshman in college, the apartment building right next to my building caught on fire. The firemen banged on our door and told us to get out immediately. My roommates ran around like fools grabbing the dumbest things. Me? I grabbed my purse and my dog and left. Granted I didn't have much then but I felt those were the two most important items. My apartment building didn't end up burning and just had minor damage from smoke and water on the outside. If I had to do it today? That is much harder. I think my dh, my kids, my pets..... obviously... and then? My jewelry, and photo albums if possible.

Keep praying, all, please, please.

This is going to be bad at my building. And the awful thing is, just a half-mile away, where ground is higher, it will be as nothing to them, just a hard, hard rain, and power outages -- while my lifetime collection drowns. It's surreal that people that near each other can have such different experiences of the same event. (But I learned this already when my father was dying of cancer. My family was under unbearable stress and full of black sorrow & the world went on oblivious all around us, at all times.)

I am no longer rational. I go through extreme panic and then resignation and then back to denial.

People in the garden apartments around me have been sharing their evacuation plans. One nice woman let me carry up antique quilts, my jewelry and fur coat, and also a carved 1825 table, and put them in her empty spare bedroom. I am going to try to prevail upon her to give refuge to my papier mache table and chair and my Art Nouveau folding screen. (They will all fit.)

I just made a reservation at a somewhat nasty Super 8 in Connecticut, near my office, since that was the only place around that wasn't completely booked & all they had left were "smoking" rooms.

Now they say the storm will hit at 3 AM on Sunday and last through about 3 PM Sunday, with the worst between 3-8 AM. This is why I have a hotel reservation. I don't want to have to evacuate in the middle of the night or keep vigil all night here. I don't have nerves of steel.

I'm sorry, Saef. :hug: I wish you could transport your belongings and yourself here. I'm glad your neighbor can keep some of your things for you

You know what's interesting also about this whole experience? It's that I thought, two weeks ago, that my life was extremely stressful because I was working at all hours. I thought life plain s*cked because I was up several pounds. But I felt fairly safe in my bed at night & I liked coming home, having all my things around me. Now those look like the good old days, and I see my complaints were comparatively minor, the annoyances of a privileged woman who acceded readily to these stresses. Okay, so the lesson is that if you think life is difficult, just wait, because it could get more difficult, and then the life you have now will look easy & golden.

Anyway my kindly neighbor has taken in those last three items of furniture -- those that are portable -- and offered to take more. But I'm fried. When I get extremely stressed, for a long period of time, I get really tired. I start not caring. It must be a defense mechanism, that makes me check out temporarily. I need to go to bed. Nothing's happening till tomorrow or even early Sunday. Then 10 inches of rain all at once and winds up to 60 mph.

Saef, it is so nice of your neighbor to offer her extra room for your items. It'll most likely build a lifetime friendship or something close to that. I hope you'll be able to store most of your most valuable things there for the duration. And as bad as Super 8 may be, it's gotta be better than Motel 6. Take care and we're all thinking of you.

Perhaps you should think about this which I posted on FB today: Everything in life is temporary. So if things are going good, enjoy it because it won't last forever. And if things are going bad, don't worry because it can't last forever either.

saef, continuing to pray for you. My prayer is that you will be safe.

saef, it is excellent that you have prepared as much as you can. Good that you have a place to go to. You have done the right things.

But at the same time, hold on to the reality that you don't know for certain how it's going to be--and neither does anyone else. Predictions can change. We can hope for the best no matter what.

In 2004, we were evacuating every other week because a hurricane was coming. These were not small storms, either. But we did learn how to prepare and what to have ready during the season. It came in handy in 2005, when they ran out of alphabet letters for the storms, remember that? But we also learned that just because the media is howling doesn't mean disaster is certain.

Hope for the best and stay safe!

Jay

saef :hug:

:grouphug: to anyone else who is also battening down the hatches.

Daqgmar :(

Continued prayers for SAEF, BILL and all others in Irene's way.....

Thanks, all, for your prayers, and yes, I'll hope for the best while preparing for the worst. Logging off now to pack the food in the car and drive to the motel.

Some surreal moments during the storm:

Me reading grams of carbs & sugar content & etc. on the tiny print on the energy bars in the store. With just an hour or two left before having to move my car off the property under management's orders.

The health food store is open in our village. I wanted to get a handful of energy bars. A woman in line called the clerk over to the fresh juice bar & took her time picking out fruit, wheatgrass, etc. for her smoothie. I gave up, stalked off.

The empty racks for batteries. Cleaned out. Same for milk in the grocery store. Also the rotisserie chickens.

The college students stalking around town with their parents looking for last-minute stuff. Yes, the college not far from me is indeed letting its freshmen move in today, since it's just overcast & raining lightly right now & the college is on high ground.

All the neighbors saying goodbye to me.

The neighbor I just saw cross the courtyard carrying a folded-up mattress.

I'm logging off & out of here. I don't remember if the motel has Wi-Fi or not, so don't be alarmed if I don't check in for a day or more.

May everyone be safe, including me, saef.