Hunkerin' Down

Yay for coastal living! We've only been in North Carolina for about 4 months and we're about to experience our first hurricane. Actually, I believe Hanna has been fluctuating between a Tropical Storm and a Hurricane, but nonetheless people sure are nervous about it. At least the weather man on the local news channel is stoked to have something exciting to talk about...oh, and they have canceled school today--even though the "hurricane" is not supposed to make land fall until about 2:00 am Saturday morning. So weather men and school-aged kiddies are stoked. Right now, it's pretty overcast and there are pockets of rain, but the skies were kind enough to let me go running before starting any major downpours.

Our neighbors have expressed concern for us (knowing that this is our first hurricane--little do they know I slept through most of hurricane Iniki) and have told us that we should bring our garbage can into the garage (check) and be prepared for the power to go off (check). I'm a little concerned that if the power goes off for very long all the groceries I purchased on Monday will go bad, but I'm glad the power lines in our neighborhood are underground. Maybe that will help. Although I'm not too terribly concerned that it will be all that bad because they're anticipating winds of about 70 mph--not too bad.

What I am really miffed about is the fact that the "hurricane preparations" are really cramping my style and ruining my weekend plans! Our ward activity--dancing, was canceled. Who doesn't want to see Andy learn how to do the Cha-Cha?!?! AND my ceramics class had to postpone our Raku (a Japanese, low-firing technique) party because of the anticipated rain. I was very excited to learn all about the raku glazing process. Now I have to wait for another 3 weeks until hurricane season is over. Booo.

Generally, I am quite irritated by this tropical storm and can't wait for it to pass. I'm afraid that with my canceled weekend plans and a potential power outage, all I'll have left to do is clean the house. What a bummer. Let's hope Ike and Josephine decide to stay far enough south that they don't ruin my plans for next weekend!