Twelve hours to go until they claim Idalia makes landfall, north of Tampa, but I’m still suspicious! I’m watching this lady hurricane like a hawk because as we all know women are prone to changing their mind. For all I know there could be a cute little sundress in a downtown Venice shop that Idalia takes a liking to and the next thing you know 😳.
The good news is we survived Ian, last September so I think this storm is doable. We already have the island house completely shut down, so we’re now residing at the shop/farm, which we refer to as Basecamp 1, for storm purposes.
We’ve also continued packing up the Airstream, pretending we’re still leaving on our trip in four days. She’s ready to roll with the exception of food, because there was very little left when I ventured out to the store, yesterday. Fruits and vegetables are apparently not very popular during an impending storm because that’s all that was left. Meh, not interested unless those veggies are fried.
Now that Charlie’s hives have settled down, due to a $367 vet visit yesterday (sigh!), we’re enjoying the calm before the storm. With the little free time we have left before the rain hits, the dogs are roaming outside, oblivious that their outdoor pee and poo time is about to abruptly end. Pepper is running around excitedly because the 100% humidity today has reinvigorated the poos she considered were yesterday’s, sun-dried, lost-cause snacks. Yes, if you weren’t privy to my older blogging days, she’s the family’s dirty little secret. A poo eater from birth and she’s not at all ashamed about it even though we cringe, try not to gawk in disgust and always say the obligatory “No Pepper! Gross! Don’t eat that.” Those actions haven’t stopped her once, as she looks me straight in the eyes and helps me with my yard doody duty. By the time I get my rubber glove and the grocery bag, it’s usually only her poos that are left to pick up. Gross I know, but I still appreciate her willingness to help with the chores.
I don’t want to single Pepper out or put the spotlight just on her talents though. Each dog has their talents and gifts shall we say? Pepper is poo detail, Bailey helps out with lizard patrol which is really no help at all and always ends in a catastrophic gurgling of her stomach, for days. Charlie takes on iguana and snake patrol until the job is done, thank goodness. Charlie also takes on the role of barking at the occasional cow that escapes the neighbor’s pasture and he’s all about barking his head off at wild hogs, turkeys and Peaches and Cream, our resident armadillos. He feels his job is to simply make their presence known to us, but not actually do anything about them. He does give Butterballs, our resident turkey tom, a run for his money though, which is entertaining, all the same.
So as for the impending storm, the new PTO tractor generator we bought after Ian is hooked up and ready to go, the vehicles are all tucked away in the shop and everything on the deck is lashed down and ready to take the deck railings with it if it gets ugly.
I’m off to start that last load of laundry, bake some brownies and possibly put a small lunch of tater tots in the oven. Oh! And take a nice hot shower, which is the one thing I regret not doing before Ian hit last year. Until the water and especially the hot water is gone, you don’t realize how much you miss it. Bird baths from the rapidly cooling hot tub water don’t do much to rid the post hurricane odors.
Hopefully we won’t have to deal with any of that this year. With the generator tested and set up, life should be much better, post storm. 🤞
Catch you on the flip side or maybe before, if something interesting comes up!
TaterTotTales 