Summer is Nigh on Upon Us

     As this is Memorial Day Weekend, many people consider this to be the beginning of summer and summer activities. Many people are enjoying a long three day weekend.  Public Schools are coming to the close of the year.  The weather is warming up.  Winter clothes are missing us, stored away in the back of closets and under beds.  Gardens are shifting in color, needs and output.  Yes, Summer cometh, though not in the same manner for all of us!

www.mevsthehouse.com 

     My grand daughters are waiting to find out if the snow days have been calculated correctly and which day their school will end.  They live in the cold part of the country.  While, here, there are three sets of swim trunks on the line for my son and grandson, they have gone to the pool every day this week and they are there now.  My Spring garden is wilting, having given up all it's early tomatoes, and is waiting for me to decide which day I will pull them and toss them in the compost pile.   

     The Orlando Sentinel is publishing this years' Channel 35 Hurricane guide.  It will also be available for free download and print in PDF form at http://media.trb.com/media/acrobat/2013-05/133602140-22084057.pdf

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     Since this is a prep blog, I'd like to keep on track today!  All the local information outlets are updating their websites with hurricane preparedness information. The Orlando Sentinel, Channel 9 WFTV and WESH 2 have downloadable, printable maps and tips pages and offer Hurricane tracker APPS.  Look to your local weather outlet for apps, alerts and printable information.

     If you are the sort of person who waits till the last minute to prepare, you definitely need the app!  Because hurricanes are formed hundreds, if not thousands of miles from shore and move relatively slowly toward land it is easy to ignore warnings until the threat is on your head.  It is possible we tune out all the noise from gloom and doom reporters as if they were all crying wolf.  

     With the recent news of destructive tornadoes in Moore, Oklahoma I would be remiss if I did not repeat... Hurricanes spawn tornadoes.  Prepare now!   It is my opinion that the warning system, or rather the warning language can be confusing.  Conversations I recall tend to argue over which is worse, a warning or a watch.  WARNING! is the answer.  For tornadoes, a watch means look at the sky and look out, get your ducks in a row, we haven't seen one, but the conditions are right!  A warning means a tornado or funnel cloud has been seen.  Danger is imminent!   During a warning, you should already know where to go and be there.

It looks like this three afternoons
out of the week during the rainy part of spring

     I have a family on my client list that are hard working, hard playing, good decent people.  They don't like bugs, uneven grass or heat.  They have no idea where they are in the world or what they should do if their routine is interrupted.  Their idea of preparing for another round of storms like the ones in 2002, is to bring the generator from the office storage so Carol (me) can clean the house!  Seriously, that is there plan.  They actually said it out loud. 

     When they moved in to the new house, they just changed address.  They went on with their life.  One day we were under a tornado watch while I was there and I couldn't believe they didn't move or change in any way.  The kids were annoyed the sound of the weather alert was interrupting their cartoons. 

     When the alert changed to a warning, I had to go and get the mom and tell her it's a warning now.  She asked if that was a problem.  She just didn't get it.  I told her she had to get her kids and go sit in the pantry.  It was built in under the stairs.  She did what I said, but when she got to the kitchen and saw I had already taken stuff out of the pantry to make room for them, she was confused.  We got the kids in and waited.  The storm passed us by.  There was high wind and hail damage just blocks away.  

     After it was all over and I was putting the extra party accessories back into the pantry, she asked me how I knew that was where we were supposed to go.  She thought she was supposed to wait for the sound of the train, then sit under the dining table.  I weep for these people.  They are so lovely and so uninformed.  Why would anyone want to sit under a mid-century modern spindle legged table centered under a four foot by three foot 18 light chandelier with thirty six glass drops ( I dust this thing, remember?), three feet from two bay windows, exposed on two sides to the open hall and great room, the great room sided with a set of double french doors?  Why would anyone wait till the housekeeper tells you take cover?  Why would you let your kids sit on a couch two feet from a sliding glass door as the wind whistles and builds?  
Yup!  She needs the weather app!   

     Do you?  Do you know where the strongest, best constructed part of your home is located?  Can you get to it in a hurry?  Can you keep your kids in there and keep them calm?  There is no way to prepare for every possible hardship that may come your way.  But, I wonder, if you know there is a possibility for strong daily storms and hurricanes and tornadoes, why are you not informed and prepared?

     I, too, believe in a loving protecting God, but, I was taught HE helps them who help themselves.