Hurricane Irma, category 5.

Currently the entire Eastern half of the US is watching Hurricane Irma very closely. Especially Florida, which is almost guaranteed at this point to take a hard hit. A lot of the projections have it moving conveniently (LOL) right between Miami and Cuba, and then turning North, either raking it's way up the peninsula, or moving straight through the Gulf of Mexico up into the Panhandle. I am in the Panhandle, somewhere.

It's been since 2005 that we in the Panhandle of Florida took a hit from a Hurricane. 2004 and 2005 was a two year act where Hurricanes slammed the Gulf Coast repeatedly, the stars of that show were named Ivan, Dennis, Katrina and Rita.

After about 12 years, Harvey finally showed up, and now we will meet Irma.

It is my fear that after so much time has passed, that we might have entire young generation of people who are currently living in Florida on their own, but weren't old enough to be much help to their parents last time a major hurricane struck, and also weren't old enough to significantly contribute to the cleanup. They likely don't remember all of the ins and outs of hurricane prep. This is something that used to come naturally to Floridians, but it's been a long time.

The local Walmart stores (and all of the non-Walmart ones too) are out of water, most of the batteries and a good bit of the camping gear. I went out there with the hordes to observe, but also to see if I could get some more preps too. Even if I have water, more is better. Even if I have batteries, more is better. Even if I've already got sandbags, more is better.

We did notice a few pushy jerks, those people who have the worst part of them brought out by an impending disaster. I'd say they looked a bit too young to have participated in the troubles of 2004 and 2005. But mostly we found people who were friendly, who were willing to give a hint about where they thought some water could be bought, people who were going through the pre-storm routine with humor. Mostly folks who looked like they'd been there before, or were with someone who had.

My windows will be boarded up if the storm hits us above a category 3. The backdoor will be sandbagged if we even receive bands of rain, since the back porch pools a little. Our area under the stairs is a nice safe space from falling debris. We've got our water and stored food. Found some extra toilet paper today. Saltines. Cereal. Baby wipes. Also happened to find two more packs of D batteries. Surprise.

Filled some sandbags for my parents too. Their back area pools much deeper than our's does.


As always my advice for anyone prepping for this storm, or the next, is to start by securing stable and safe shelter. If you have to evacuate, earliest possible is the best. Some people are already leaving and we don't even know where the storm is going yet. If you're not leaving, by half inch plywood boards, cut them to fit your windows and board them up. If you've got brick or cinder block surrounding your windows, buy Plylox clips. They make boarding up windows EASY. Local hardware stores have empty sandbags (got mine for 49¢) and the local fire department has sand (or they know who does), possibly for free. Get on your roof and secure the weak spots. Get those problem trees in the yard near your house trimmed down, cut down or strapped down. Get a generator that is capable of running your fridge, and get the gas and oil to run the generator, and learn to take care of it. Keep the generator OUTSIDE. Make a plywood teepee over it to cut down the noise. Yes, it works.

Obviously, buy water if you can. Store it if you can. Walmart usually sells 15gal water containers. Three of those alone will give a family of five water for nine days, if you're following the "one gallon of water per person, per day" rule. That includes drinking, cooking, washing and bathing. Get a Berkey water filtration system and catch that rain and filter it. It sucks to be dry and thirsty when the sky just dumped a million gallons on your property. Do NOT collect rainwater from a shingle roof. It's poisonous to drink, even after your filter it. Don't water food with it either.

Use Mylar and five gallon buckets to store rice, beans, salt, pepper and sugar. MREs are ok. Mountain House #10 cans are better. Using a generator to run you fridge, deep freezer and microwave are best. Coleman propane stoves are a life saver. Get you a manual can opener, and a dozen P-38/P-51 can openers.

Clean your guns and stock that ammo. Especially if you have the slightest idea that someone might want what you've got. Boarded windows are great concealment, but that goes both ways. Sandbags will stop a pistol round. You all let me know if it stops a rifle round though. If I don't hear from you, I'll assume that it didn't.

Batteries for flashlights and gas for lanterns. Fuel up the cars when you get the chance and keep the gas cans full. Bring in the lawn furniture and close the garage.

What else y'all got?