Saturday, September 9, 2017

Hurricane Irma

Yep, I'm stuck at ground zero with my family because the weather reports kept changing.  We had made reservations on the east coast through next week, but then the forecasters said it was going to hit the east.  So we decided to stay put here on the west coast and, surprise, Irma is now going to pass over my area.  There is no gas or lodging available pretty much in the whole southeast now.

My husband and daughter were on vacation, so my brother in law and nephew came over to help me put up the metal hurricane shutters. When dear husband and daughter got home we got busy cleaning up the yard of possible projectiles, and filling our six gallon containers with drinking water.

In the last few days we've purchased a portable grill, easy start charcoal, canned goods, and filled all our prescriptions.  I was surprised to find the grill and charcoal on an end cap at Walgreens and CVS. We were originally planning on digging a hole, lining it will foil, place a grill over the top and cook with firewood.  We are iffy on whether our gas grill was safe to use as we haven't used it for a while.

Besides our drinking water we have filled pots and pans with water and will fill our tub when the time comes.  I plan on taking a nice hot bath before I do that though.

And what do you do when you are most certainly going to lose your electricity?  Why you decide to can all the meat in the freezer.  Which is what I'm doing while we speak.

Station 1 has the hot lids, hot broth and clean jars.

Station 2 is the actual American brand pressure canner.

One of the meats to be canned: poached chicken.

When I'm done the canner can be used to store more water.  It was a way to provide food for my family and make sure nothing was wasted.

In my free time I'm checking out rentals on Zillow.  I've found a couple of cute houses in both Georgia and North Carolina.  I also have an open invitation to stay with my brother and sister in law in California.  Or with my best friend in Georgia.  That may be nice for a few weeks.  All we need for dear daughter's schooling is a computer, printer and reliable internet, so there are many options.

Pray for us as we are praying for others.

Blessings,
Pam