Florence on the Prowl

 You may know by now that Florence decided to pop by and visit-- Hurricane Florence, that is. So here we are, preparing to hunker down for a few days.

Things are pretty busy, so I don't have a ton of time to write all my touching reflections on family and friends being more important than material things, etc., etc., but I did want to check in and let you all know how things are going. The weird thing about hurricanes, I've realized, is that everything is very much "hurry up and wait". Saturday Matthew mentioned casually that there was a hurricane brewing in the Atlantic and we might get some nice storms. Sunday we started watching the news a little more. Monday I was told to evacuate my apartment. Today I'm packing, tomorrow I'm moving out. Thursday the storm hits.

Ah yes, Booker Creek Townhouse Apartments. You wouldn't guess it from the name, but apparently we're prone to flooding, what with the creek and all. After receiving the evacuation notice yesterday (effective tomorrow at noon), Jenny and I started moving everything upstairs--what a luxury it is to have an upstairs in a time like this! Fortunately, it looks like we'll be able to get everything off the ground floor except for our couch and our armchair.

We're getting a wee bit cramped upstairs!

And this is before the hurricane! (Just kidding, still working on moving things.)

Hurricane's reduced me to meal prepping ice.

Meanwhile, Facebook is getting more and more entertaining.

We did get to the grocery store yesterday, and we were all blown away by how well-prepared Food Lion was. Yes, the parking lot was a zoo. Yes, we waited in lines reaching all the way to the back of the store before checking out. But they had somehow received an emergency shipment so they were remarkably well-stocked on water and other essentials, and they had a full staff working away. As we checked out at 7:15, we overhead the manager asking someone to cover a shift so that one cashier could have her lunch break.

Anyway, now that most of the preparation is over we're back to the waiting game. Tomorrow I'm going to stop by work but I haven't decided how long I'll stay before heading to Matthew's apartment. We're planning on weathering it together, while Jenny is staying with a coworker. We are expecting serious flooding and power outages, along with 40-60 mph wind, but it sounds like the best option is to hang out and keep our heads down until it's over. We do have plenty of food, water, flashlights, batteries, etc. Because we're expecting power outages, we'll probably try to keep communication down to a minimum to conserve batteries, but we'll keep in contact with my parents and his so they should know what's going on.

No, this isn't how I was planning on spending my weekend. On the bright side, we went to the Chapel Hill Public Library book sale on Sunday ($5 for a giant bag of books!) so at least we'll be able to take advantage of that! I'm also packing lots of games and science experiments I want to try out for work.

Check out this book tower I made over the weekend! Believe it or not, eggs are insanely strong thanks to their arch shape (if you've never done it before, try crushing an egg in your palm and you'll see).

Anyway, catch you on the flip side!