Hurricane Irene in Valdese

In Valdese, Hurricane Irene consisted of some high thin clouds, sunshine, humidity and a warm breeze.  We made no special preparations (other than mowing the grass - the same as I did for Hurricane Hanna a few years ago).  I suppose we live far enough west that a gigantic storm going up the coast is not quite gigantic enough to cause us any inconvenience.  I think for us to be bothered it would have to make landfall somewhere in South Carolina then head north west. 

My only experience with hurricanes are the ones that passed by when I was living in Maryland, and there I was used to hours and hours of torrential rain - I'm sure Irene soaked most if not all of Maryland.  I'm pretty sure rain from a hurricane going up the east coast is the most rain I've ever seen at one time in my life.  But here, at the foot of some rather good sized mountains, that's not the case.

So for us, yesterday was just a warmish, humid day.  Today it's a little cooler, not as much haze in the air & I got a good view of the mountains from the cemetery when I walked Pickles this morning.

In the eastern part of the state, a  completely different story.   What a difference a little distance makes.

1 million people ordered to evacuate in Texas

When I read this headline, my first thought was man, they're gonna need a hell of a lot of toilet paper.

My Preparations For Hurricane Hanna

My preparations for Hurricane Hanna consisted of mowing the yard. Yep, that's pretty much it. If anyone has read a previous post, they may get the idea that I don't really care to mow the yard, and they'd be right.

In fact its really a mistake to call Patti Anne & I have a yard. It's more like a field. In fact it is a field, a large field and I mowed the stupid thing last week. It was just getting back to the point that a resonable and prudent person may consider that it needed mowing again. I generally like to let it go another week or so after that point. But not this time. If Hanna hits where they think its going to hit, we're going to get a lot of rain - like from Friday to Sunday. The grass is going to love it, soak it up, and grow and grow. And, in humidity ridden North Carolina, it will never truly dry out, at least not until December or so. So I will end up having to mow a wet field. It's tricky enough when it's not wet. I have to dodge some large trees, keep from rolling down some steep hills, and try not to get into places I can't get out of. It's enough of a technical challenge without adding the possibility of choking the old John Deere to death into the mix.

So I sucked it up and mowed. Looks pretty nice, actually.