The Raven's Roost

Time for a proper update. So the hurricane is basically over where I live. We still have breezy conditions, the sun peeks through once in a while, but it's stopped raining. I went for a short run earlier and saw no real damage, though part of the road is getting very washed out and rutted. It's nothing the truck can't get through, but I wouldn't want to hit some of these things at speed. Catbirds are highly active today, and I don't think I've seen any all summer. Just - suddenly Catbirds.

The power flickered some around two, but we'd shut down anything that might be sensitive to it, or annoying like the printer. The cats tried to wake me up at 4:30 but since I slept badly, I used the squirt bottle to deter them, and they let me sleep in. Crowley got into bed and snuggled up until around 6:30 when the Barred Owls started territorial calling in the trees just north of the house - a spot I often hear them hanging around. Fox went out to the garage for something and said he disturbed a "hawk sized" bird that flew off silently, so we assume that was one of the Owls.

A lot fewer people are out of power around us than with the previous storm, and a lot of them are already back on. The internet radio towers apparently had no damage, they just didn't have electricity, so we have regular net access again. Things went about as well as we could have hoped for, unlike the folks south of here that really took a major beating. There are already reports of deaths, the roof came off the Tropicana Stadium (oh boy, Katrina flashbacks ...), and there were some places that got TWENTY ONE INCHES of rain. This thing was absolutely terrifying.

We've got the windows open since the temperatures are going to be pleasant until some time next week when it will warm up again - summer's last "fuck you" on the way out. The cats were at first obsessed with sitting in the windows but apparently outside is stupid and boring now, because they're asleep. I'm catching up on some household chores and tasks I couldn't do before, because hurricane anxiety had me so badly I had no executive function and almost no energy.

However, Lt. Dan is fine. Florida-ing legend.

I debated with myself whether to try to get my blood draw done this morning, but the way it's raining, I don't really want to deal with it. I have some last minute cleaning and prep things I want to do before the power goes out - which it likely will. Yesterday I went with Fox and while he did his PT I managed to buy some ethanol-free gas for the generator and fill up a couple of the diesel jugs for the tractor. I also filled one of our water bottles at Walmart which was not crazy yet, but they were out of toilet paper and bottled water. There was still beer though, LOL.

Trash pick up is supposed to be going on today until conditions become hazardous, so we'll see if they get mine or if I'm skipped over again. We did manage to finish the trash shed, so it's tall enough for the county-issued cans, but the doors are also on it. We prefer to protect the generator, so it goes into the shed where it can be out of the rain. It does have adequate ventilation in there, but then we also have an older model without the carbon dioxide sensor.

Today I'll start taking rain gauge readings every four hours. By tonight things should start getting rough, but the track is trending more to the south, which pulls it away from us. And of course there's much cooler temps after this thing. Seven weeks until Space Coast :D

Speaking of - I found some scrap denim, and I plan to do my "Dorie's Marathons" hashmark patch with a permanent marker. I can also do the word marathons in the style of the Metallica logo because why wouldn't I? I'm probably listening to Metallica while I run anyway.

I'm not feeling as much need to stress bake, but I'm going to make a tray of granola today. I'll probably feed the sourdough. Hmm. I would have sworn I saw a link yesterday to a recipe for sourdough cinnamon muffins, I need to go look for that.