The Hippie Chick

So. Looks like by Monday in the wee hours we'll be getting SOMETHING if not a full on hit from Hurricane Isaac.

They're watching it still, and how this will affect the GOP Convention in Tampa remains to be seen. Four years ago, it was Gustav that came through in time for the convention. Keeping my eye closely on this one. I'm off till Friday, and gearing up for an incredibly busy weekend with people coming in for necessities, ice, water, etc.

We need to get some things ourselves and prepare.

Coastal watches / warnings and 5 day forecast

To any of you in the northeast that are in the cone of the storm, plan accordingly and stay safe. This is a powerful one, 135mph winds, Cat 4. Looks like we here in Florida will squeak by this one, but you never know what these storms'll do.

Here's how we stand so far this year:

2010 Hurricane List

Alex (hurricane, hit Mexico then downgraded to tropical storm)
Bonnie (tropical storm)
Colin (tropical storm)
Danielle (strong as Earl, 135 mph winds. Downgraded to Cat 2 storm on Aug 28, remnants should be felt in the Azores and Greenland).
Earl (currently one to watch, Cat 4 135mph winds headed for the northeast U.S.)
Fiona (she's supposedly forming out there right behind Earl !)
Gaston (EEK! and he's right behind Fiona!)
Hermine
Igor
Julia
Karl
Lisa
Matthew
Nicole
Otto
Paula
Richard
Shary
Tomas
Virginie
Walter

I'm so happy to hear that New Orleans weathered Gustav well. Watching on the news, I was holding my breath ... water was going over the sides and spurting through in places, but the levees held. And more good news, is that the energy facilities there along the coast were also spared, so the spike in prices we were dreading from damaged facilities won't occur.

Hopefully power will be restored quickly enough to those without, and cleanup go well so people can get back to normal. I know what it's like to sit there without power for up to a week after these storms.

Now. I've got a sinus headache to beat the band, so I need to go do something about that. Then coffee!

xxoo!

Looks like we're in for a soaking the next couple of days thanks to Tropical Storm Fay. The Keys are under Hurricane Watch, and we are all under a Tropical Storm watch. I hope she doesn't upgrade into hurricane territory like the Hurricane Center is saying it will do once it hits the Keys. What's good to hear is that after they assessed things once she pummeled Cuba, there was minimal damage.

And if this is like deja vu? Maybe? That's because Fay wasn't retired as a name and it was re used for this season. She was a Tropical Storm last time, too, running through Texas.

Tropical Storm Noel is being felt here. Not the heaviest rains, those are over the Bahamas, but it's rainy and quite windy. We're in for a bumpy day or two. Nothing like squeezing one in at the very last second of Hurricane Season, eh? LOL!

Just got the pumpkin carved. Here he is!





And almost forgot it's Tuesday!!

Tuesday Tunes @ The Music Memoirs
Trick Or Treat!

What's your favorite "Sweet" song?
Dunno. Um... "I Want Candy" by Bow Wow Wow? Or "Sugar Sugar" by The Archies. Either one.

You want to scare someone, what song do you play?
I'd just put on Pink Floyd's "Ummagumma" and turn the lights down. That would do the trick I think... it's good and creepy. "Careful With That Axe, Eugene" especially.

What's the song you associate most with Halloween?
Probably "Monster Mash". I know, I know, an old chestnut, but you know you hear it umpteen times every year, right?

What band makes the spookiest music?
Marilyn Manson can come up with some sufficiently spooky sounds and looks. Or there's Black Sabbath / Ozzy with their dark leanings.

What's the best scary soundtrack?
The "Halloween" movie soundtrack is great.

Cool. I love Halloween!

Well, thank goodness he turned out to be rather a non event. I'm looking out my window now, and it's breezy, and a bit rainy but nothing more than one of our typical afternoon rainstorms would do.

Don't know if mom is working today or not, she might just take off today.

I work tomorrow morning. It turned out well that I happened to have been scheduled Tue and Wed off.

Watching the weather on the news just now. We're keeping our eye on Chris. Right now it's looking like we'll have a wet Sunday at any rate, it doesn't look like we'll get very heavy winds from this one.

OMG Katrina is a CATEGORY 5!!! If you're in her path PLEASE be careful, prepare fully, and evacuate if you're told to! I've never seen such a change in a storm since I've lived in Florida. These are unpredictable in what they'll do. She started out here as a Tropical Storm / Cat 1, just a mass with no defined eye, and now she's WELL developed and defined. Instead of weakening yet more as she was predicted to she morphed into this monster! I have all in her path in my thoughts and prayers. Just the mess left here when she was weaker ... this is NOT good. She's headed for either Biloxi, New Orleans or the panhandle of FLorida. All around there will feel her no matter where the center hits worst.

In other news, if any of you are Sirius Satellite Radio subscribers, just wanted to give you a heads up on a temporary channel... Rolling Stones Radio (99). Classic cuts, deep cuts, interviews, all Stones all the time. Just for the tour then it's gone. Listening right now.

Another Bad Hurricane Season Predicted
Monday, May 16, 2005 3:46 PM EDT
The Associated Press
By ALAN SAYRE

The Atlantic Seaboard and the Gulf Coast could be in for another bad hurricane season, one of the government's top forecasters said Monday.

Conrad C. Lautenbacher Jr., head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, predicted 12 to 15 tropical storms, seven to nine of them becoming hurricanes, and three to five of those major hurricanes, with winds of at least 111 mph.

"We can't predict this far in advance how many will strike land," he said. But given the active season, "be prepared for two or three of these to make landfall."

On average, the United States is hit by two major hurricanes every three years.

Last year, there were 15 tropical storms, with nine of them hurricanes _ six of them major. Florida got hit by an unprecedented four hurricanes.

Lautenbacher said the 2005 forecast was based on a large number of factors, including air pressure, winds and surface temperature.

Forecasters at Colorado State University have also predicted a significantly above-average Atlantic hurricane season. In April, William Gray and his team said they expect 13 named storms, including seven hurricanes, three of them major.

The hurricane season begins June 1 and runs through Nov. 30.

Hello! I'm back. We weathered Hurricane Frances well, very minimal damage, save a couple of trees down and a streetlight blown, but safe.

We spent the storm at my aunt Jan's house inland. It was kind of fun. We didn't lose power there until Saturday, and she got it back on again that night. I however was not so lucky. Our power stayed out for like five days. We only got it back night before last. Just got the cable back up today, so I now have my internet access.

It was actually not so bad here in Boca. There's lots of stuff down all around, but buildings are safe, and people are safe. It's the aftermath you have to watch out for, mostly people not treating downed traffic lights as four way stops. They can't seem to get that through their heads and blow through the intersections like mad. We've had accidents right and left due to that. They did erect stop signs and place policemen at the more dangerous areas.

I haven't listened to anything yet, so I don't know if Palm Beach county is still under curfew, but it's been 10 pm here. In other places it's been 8 pm and in others midnight. It deters looters and with all the downed lights, it's not safe to be driving around anyway.

When we were powerless, I made do. We have a generator in our building, that runs the lobby, elevators, and every other hall light on each floor. The apartments have no power during outages. There was a fridge set up downstairs so that we could keep cold drinks in and everyone here in the building banded together, helped each other and really became a community. I thought it was really really cool.

Listened to my portable CD player alot and my music entertained me. Listened to much Beatles (happy music, keeps me sane) particularly Anthology. Basically all my favorite artists and music that keep me on an even keel. The radio was our lifeline basically, our only connection to what was going on and the stations did a GREAT job at fielding phone calls and keeping everyone informed and sane.

Our supplies held out well. Plenty of batteries, water, canned and other non perishable foods, and there were places open so we weren't suffering too badly in that respect. The only thing I really missed (besides my internet LOL!!) was AIR CONDITIONING. It's been sweltering hot the past few days, and very difficult sleeping. But it got a bit cooler at night and we loved the rain bands that would come through a couple days after Frances left us, it would get so deliciously cool and very nice until the sun heated everything up again.

My store got full power yesterday, after running a full day and a half on two generators. We had like two registers working and the computers were up too. Half the lights. So, people were walking around in the dim trying to shop. No AC in there either. Store held up well, just lost all the ice cream and perishables of course. Could have been much worse and we even got a truck today and a milk delivery yesterday so we're fine.

This whole experience really makes you take stock and appreciate all that we do have. And especially those we love.

My phone is dead though. I am going to call MCI since the second line, in the living room, work fine. My line, however... I don't think this is storm related. I have to call MCI but I'm waiting until Monday. I have my cell phone after all for now.

Mom's actually cooking dinner for the first time in a week right now. Smells divine and will taste even better. Pork and beans, vienna sausages, and the like only hold so much attraction after a week of nothing but after all.

Later! Gonna go get caught up with everything. <3