Good afternoon, ladies! A lovely 88 degrees. I had to laugh until noon because Weather Bug was giving the local weekend forecast as 80% chance of rain and cloudy with light winds. They finally changed it. The warning came out from NOAA today for a hurricanecane watch until midnight tomorrow so I think they must just do one day ahead. They are supposed to tell us tomorrow if we have to evacuate. They are thinking it will be a tropical storm with 70+ miles per hour winds and torrential rain but conditions are not going to be the same as it was during Isabel so flooding should be less with a 6 foot storm surge. Depending on how close to high tide that surge is, I may or may not be flooded. Nothing to do but to wait. I decided I wanted more batteries for my boom box so I can listen to books on CD and the radio in case the power goes out for a long time and went to 7 stores where they were sold out and then found some at the Dollar Store. I'm charging my phone and MP3 player, too. The worst is supposed to happen during the night time hours which I hate because I can't see if the water is rising very well.

Faye, I'm sorry Fortune isn't feeling well again. Poor little fellow! That's a very nice thing to do for Missy. It's so sad when it's a young person. Glory had ovarian cancer when she was 28 and has survived 41 years now. Her little girl was 5 at the time. I love your thermos cooler.

Maggie, I will take an envelope to mail your book with me on Saturday and run it to the post office after I finish at WW so it should get out of town before the big blow.

Jean, I hope WW gets back to Thursdays for you with a leader you love.

Have a great day!

Good Afternoon, Flowers! It's another beautiful day in my corner of the world; it's sunny and my windows are open wide. It has warmed up to 75 from 51 when I went downstairs this morning. It is so dark at 6 now. The office was busy with people coming and going this morning. We are advertising for a new custodian as our 2 part-timers are retiring. Some of the "candidates" didn't look smart enough to open a locked door let alone fix anything. The salad luncheon was today so I ate lunch with Bob's secretary. Lots of different yummy salads; I keep saying they should do a salad cookbook and sell them for a fund raiser. I need to make a grocery run after I make a list which is next after I finish here.

"Gma" -- I'm so sorry about Fortune and you too! It's not fun having a sick pet. I hope his food has stayed down. It's really nice of you to help with meals for Missy's family. Bob doesn't get to wear his Dockers very often because I hate ironing them. I never thought about the cleaners route. Good idea! Your cosys are sure cute!

Maggie -- You just don't get any cooler do you? The Navy Seal, with the dog, was from So. Sioux City so the newspaper and local tv stations have really had a lot to say about him. His family didn't even know he was a Seal, just that he was in the Navy. He was such a nice young man even in school according to his teachers. Sad and tragic loss that's for sure. That is weird about your iron. My new one doesn't have a nonstick bottom; I really like it . . . and it's bright silver metal with RED showing the water level!

Susan -- Where will you go if you have to evacuate? I am praying that you will be safe and your home too! That is a good idea to stock up on batteries. I never seem to have the right size on hand.

I need to make my grocery list and get moving. All I really want to do is put my feet up and read/take a snooze. Enjoy the rest of your day!

After the evening news tonight, we are in for the worst storm in more than a century unless a miracle turns it away and its going to be horrendous all the way to Maine. Faye, you may remember Sandbridge a few miles south of VA Beach that floods with a Nor'easter. They are now under mandatory evacuation along with parts of Norfolk. The storm will be a weak Category 3 or a strong Category 2 when it gets to me. Fema has already begun moving supplies into the area and the insurance companies are coming too. I honestly don't know where I could evacuate to with the expanse of the storm so I'll stay put. No reason to worry about any of this because it is going to happen so I plan on being prepared, praying and picking up the pieces. The storm is supposed to hit around 9 pm Saturday night and the worst should be over by 7 Sunday morning, if they weather people know what they are talking about. I guess I'll take a nap Saturday afternoon so I can stay up all night. Not that anyone will be sleeping! I worry about the animals. The ships and planes are gone so there are a lot of women here with no men on hand.

The wind is picking up from the south and the smoke is awful.

Good evening, ladies! We've had some showers this afternoon after a storm last night. It looks like Irene will be here a little sooner and the bad news it the worst is hitting at high tide. There are huge backups on all the roads - it was already 8 miles at the Hampton Roads Bridge Tunner and 21 at the Monitor Merrimac at noon today and it's only getting worse. There is no gas to be had on the Peninsula and most of the grocery stores had put up there hurricane shutters and closed since they are out of food.

I went to English paper piecing today. No point in staying home since all is ready and who knows when I'll get out again. I left my car about a 1/4 mile away on higher ground. Just about everything is closed tomorrow so I won't be getting your book, Maggie.

I will get back to you when I can. If you hear anything on TV, I'm on the VA Peninsula between VA Beach/Norfolk and Richmond or you can go to www.dailypress.com on line for our local newspaper.

Good morning, ladies - rain and rain and more rain. It woke me up in the night because it was coming down so hard. It lets up and then starts up again. This is the rain that comes ahead of the eye of the storm.

Irene made landfall at Cape Lookout at 7:30 as a category 1 so that is wonderful that it is a bit weaker. York County issued a voluntary evacuation order by my neighborhood as of 8 am. Nowhere to go now. Route 12 which is the only road from Hatteras is now covered with water. Tunnels have closed their flood gates. It looks like the eye will pass directly over us around 7-8 pm with high tide at 9:36 near me. There were tornado warnings issued earlier so we may have that to contend with that as well.

Of course we also have the nuts. There is a sail boat out in Norfolk and they think there are 2 people on board. The police, fire, and coast guard are trying to shot a line to the boat - about 400 yards - so they can get it in. All their boats have been put up to safety. I say if the nuts went out, they need to get in the best they can. Then there are the other idiots who are wading in the surf, people driving on the boardwalk and other risk takers so the police are busy.

I'll drop by and post during the day until the power goes out. Our lines are underground so it'll have to be a big feeder line or transformer that will take it down.

We've had 2 brief blips with the power but it came right back on. The worst will be hitting in 5 hours. We've had so much rain that things are already flooded. Irene is moving slower than anticipated so we're getting hammered with the rain for longer than they thought. They caught 2 kids on bikes looting houses in Sandbridge. Winds are gusting in the 50-55 mph now.

They managed to get a man and a woman off the sailboat. The boat will probably be smashed by the storm. They were out last night (when they shouldn't have been) and lost their engine so couldn't get back in. They should make them pay for their resue and a big fine. Stupid people update the surfers were in the water at VA Beach. It must be wonderful to think you'll live forever. We have trees down all over and I64 is now blocked. It'll stay that way until the storm is gone and it's safe to work again.

If the storm isn't enough, there's been a water main break in Norfolk and the road has caved in an the water is shooting up like a geyser.

The storm surge is going to be much worse than Isabel so I have been busy hauling everything upstairs that I can but it will be what it will be.