FIRST PERSON | As Irene approached the Washington, D.C., area on Saturday, I heard a lot of conflicting messages about what to expect. Trying to sort out what to believe was one of the more difficult puzzles I've played, and there wasn't even a cheat sheet with the right answers on it. In the end, I pieced together the expectation that the rain would start sometime after noon, the actual hurricane would hit in the late evening or overnight, and we could expect power outages and road blockages due to downed trees and power lines. There was a small risk of flooding due to excessive rain, but that didn't sound too likely for my local area. The main message was to stay off the roads from noon until the hurricane was definitely over.
For food, we thought it wise to have something available that didn't require cooking, as our stove is unfortunately electric (as is the microwave, naturally). We came up with the idea of ordering Chinese takeout and putting it in the fridge. If we had power, we could reheat in the microwave, but if we did not, then we could simply eat it cold. Naturally, we also stocked up on things like bananas and nut mixes, which we could eat raw between meals.
As for water, we're on our own personal well. Our well is electric, and, like many modern electric wells, it isn't actually set up to dump a bucket into. It is theoretically possible to open the well anyway, but the cap is inhumanly heavy - designed to discourage you from doing something like that. So, in order to avoid having to figure out what to do about water in the case of an extended power outage, we filled up every bucket we could find. We already had a large supply of Deer Park drinking water, so that wasn't an issue.
We also heard the advice to batten down all the loose stuff in the yard. I took the opportunity to throw out some old folding lawn chairs that weren't really worth keeping, and I put the ones that were worth keeping in the garage. Of course, throwing stuff out means throwing it in the back of the truck, so that required a trip to the dump. In order to make sure the trip was worthwhile, we scoured the house inside and out to find all possible trash, recycling, cardboard, and even electronic recycling.
Finally, in the name of safety, I made the ultimate personal sacrifice: I chose to cancel my 5 p.m. massage appointment. I have to say that particular preparation was the biggest pain in my backside of them all - literally, of course.
Oh, yes. I also looked up what television shows we might want to see for the next few days, so that I could set my DVR to record them in case we lost our electricity. Luckily, I have a spouse who is smarter than me and was able to point out the flaw in that logic, so I didn't actually waste my time setting recordings.
We woke up early Saturday morning. We made the trip to the dump, walked outside with the dogs for a last "dry" pee (for them, not us - we use indoor plumbing, but they don't), bathed, and then filled the tub with water. After that, there was nothing to do but wait.
The rain actually started around 10:30 a.m., though it was just barely a drizzle. Still, it was enough water that we knew the hurricane had officially begun - early.
After one more pee trip, we counted our animals, came up with the right number, and locked them all inside. From that moment on, we were just waiting the storm out.
I suggested that maybe we should enjoy the electricity while we still had it. We popped in a DVD from Netflix.
Hurricane Irene hit most of the East Coast with varying degrees of fury. In my area, she was pretty mild. The rain increased and eventually became a torrid downpour that lasted for hours. However, as predicted, our local area did not have any flooding crises. We also never experienced any severe winds. The electricity stayed on; there was one blink of an outage, lasting less than two seconds (not even long enough for us to reach for our flashlights), but otherwise, we had no electrical issues at all.
In the end, we wound up watching four movies, one right after the other. We stayed up until sometime after 4 a.m., expecting something big and bad to happen that never really came.
The next morning was just glorious. The air smelled fresh, the sky was a brilliant blue, and the birds serenaded us more joyfully and more vigorously than usual.
We suffered no property damage whatsoever; our only trouble was a lot of fallen leaves and a few twigs and branches.
All in all, we had a very good hurricane. Our entire family of all species stayed calm and safe throughout the event. The movies were great fun. Although Irene was not so kind to everyone in her path, she seemed to have smiled on us. I am grateful for the entire experience, but especially for coming through it completely intact.
Moravia Harper lives in northern Virginia's Prince William County (near D.C.) with her multi-species family.
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