Chondrosarcoma – ah shit, bob's sick

This is a test post from my iPhone, hoping to use this in the evevt of an extended power outage. Again, more to come!

1:30pm EST.

We spent a good part of our day getting ready for hurricane Irene in the event it hits us full freight. Of course there’s only so much you really do anyway. We cleared the yard and surrounding area around the house of things that may get easily tossed during high winds. Prepared the fireplace for cooking in the likely event we lose electrical power.

Stocked up a little on simple items like water and batteries etc, ect. and last but not least, we prepared a small suitcase each to quickly bring in the event we really had to evacuate the entire house. That’s about you can really do.

The storm hit the Carolinas this morning (just about as I was waking up) and has moved north to the mid Atlantic states. We are expecting our area to get hit somewhere between late tonight and early Sunday morning.

There are already half a million people without power south of us, and by the time it passes through New Jersey and New York City area I’m sure that’ll be over a million.

I can’t imagine that we won’t lose at least power.

The State of Vermont says it has already contracted with hundreds of utility workers coming in from other states as far away as Illinois, Missouri, Texas and Canada. They are already on their way to help respond to expected power outages.

All the eastern coastal states have begun to heavily prepare for Irene, clearing their shores and boarding up. Emergency shelters are opening their doors. It’s a good idea to find out where the closest one to you is … if you don’t already know call your local fire departments NON-EMERGENCY number and ask.

I realized this morning that almost every bird and backyard critter has moved on somewhere, or honkered down for the storm … not a one in sight, they know what’s coming.

Stay tuned, this isn’t over yet. Now we sit and wait

9:00am EST.
If you’re living along the east coast of the United States, you’re probably doing the same:
I’ll be updating this post as often as possible through-out the day.

We’re getting ready to go out and prepare the yard for Hurricane Irene. Just heard that it made landfall in North Carolina. I’m thinking I have some close friends down there and am wondering how they’re preparing and holding out. We’ll know within the twenty-four hours.

We’re also getting ready for extended power outages, getting the fire-place ready for cooking, bringing in a “winters day” amount of wood, packing an emergency bag for each of us (Alberic included), and grabbing some cash in the event this is an extended thing.

I plan on giving a few friends a call and seeing how they’re handling things.

Yesterday at work we prepared as much as we could without shutting down the whole system including the servers … sometimes I’m thinking I should’ve done that. We did remove all the data backups.

OK … time to get outside and start securing things.

More to come …

Wanted to wish everyone a happy and safe Independence Day. If time allows between company, kids and bar-b-que, give a remembrance as to why we even celebrate today in the first place.

No matter what your opinion is now, this is the day to acknowledge our Declaration of Independence and although it’s far from perfect in practice, it is what we have, and it has bought us the ‘right’ to bring it closer to its intent.

Interpretation of that document will be debated forever by every corporation, political group and people on the planet. Some say, Land of the Free and Home of the Brave and others say Land of the Fee and Home of the Slave … whichever way you look at it, remember this:

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any form of government becomes destructive to these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness.”

Have a great day!

Happy Father’s Day my friends …. stay healthy and happy. Looks like today will be a beautiful day weather wise here in Vermont … so fire up that Bar-B-Q, put a few steaks , lobsters or whatever, and enjoy the day.
That’s what we’re doing … enjoying the day.

Of course any day that involves enjoyment must involve a little humor too.
So Happy Father’s Day to all.

Happy Fathers Day