Earlier I wrote to an old friend that I had started a blog to soothe my mental crazies, but the voices inside my head were a little quiet lately. Well, that all changed today at about 4:00PM when my husband called me, and now I have one particular voice in my head that is speaking quite loudly and he’s got a lot to say: IKE. I live on the southern tip of the Florida peninsula, also known as the “Cone of Death.” We always get a little nervous when there’s a storm brewing, but me thinks something wicked this way comes:

Right now Ike is a lovely category 4 storm out in the middle of the Atlantic. He’s supposed to cool off to a cat 2 and hit either eastern Cuba or the Bahamas. We want him to go towards eastern Cuba, because then he will likely cool off even more and then head up into the Gulf of Mexico and away from Florida. If he goes towards the Bahamas though, we’re screwed. The water is much warmer there and not a lot of land, so Ike will heat back up again to a cat 3 or 4 before smashing into the Florida peninsula that sticks out like a sore thumb.
Regardless of the path the storm takes, tomorrow the hubster has some preparations to make. He’s got to test and clean out the generator and make sure it’s running properly, then show me how to start it up. We’ve also got to clean off all of the siding from when we replaced the soffits so we can return the leftovers to Lowe’s. I think we’re pretty well stocked with our batteries and canned goods, but hubster’s gonna have to go pick me up some grapefruit and pineapple juice so I can make my hurricanes to keep my lonesome self entertained in the dark. Since he’s a firefighter, he’ll be at the station for 36-48 hours during the storm while I’m holding down the fort at home.
And on that note, I leave you with the most important hurricane preparation:
Pour all but the juices, in order listed, into a hurricane glass three-quarters filled with ice. Fill with equal parts of grapefruit and pineapple juice, and serve.