Batten down the hatches...HURRICANE!

Moving to Virginia from Arizona has been quite the adventure on so many fronts.  But it has been especially adventurous on the weather/natural disaster front.  As if the tornado and earthquake weren't enough, now it is time for a hurricane!  It is no surprise to anyone in the world that has any connection with the outside world that hurricane Irene is hitting land in North Carolina and heading north.

We are located just west of Richmond, so we have the advantage of having more distance between us and the coast, but according to this radar image that was just pulled off AccuWeather.com, we are right on the edge of the hurricane's outer effects.

For the most part, we are ready.  Fortunately when we bought the house, it came with a built in generator, that has proven itself useful more than once already.  That is a bonus that was never realized when the house selection process was taking place a little over a year ago.

We have taken all the patio furniture and put it into the garage.  We have left the chickens and guineas in their run so they don't get blown away, although they may be better if they were let out and went into the woods to hide from the storm.  All other loose items outside have either been put into the garage or strapped down to something secure.

Yesterday after work I took the boys and we went and strapped down the bee hives.  I used the dog run curly stakes and ratchet straps.

The one hive with the regular screened bottom board was shorter than the other, and I couldn't get a stake into the ground between the hives to ratchet each individually, so one ratchet strap went around the shorter hive to keep it together, just in case it fell over, and then a second ratchet strap went over both hives pulling them down onto their stands.  It seemed secure, so we'll have to wait and see.

The hive at Possum's garden was easier since it was one hive on blocks.  Two curly stakes and a ratchet strap was enough to hold that hive down securely.

The Good Wife took off to Texas Friday morning to help out her parents.  They both had recent surgery and she went for a little bit to help them out.  From the sounds of it, she is working more than "vacationing."  The Good Wife's sister is coming down from the DC area today for the weekend, so we will have company to help keep the boys entertained.

Right now the electricity is still on and the kids are playing in the house.  If all goes well, we will get some rain, a little wind and life will go on.  The one good thing that may come out of this hurricane is there may be a lot of firewood available.