Keeping an eye on Tropical Storm Earl

It’s that time of year in the Caribbean - hurricane season. Things have been fairly quiet here for the most part except for that bit of rain and wind we had back in July but I guess we’re just now entering the height of hurricane season. Evidently, late August through September is prime time for hurricanes. Fortunately, hurricane Danielle took a sharp turn north so we weren’t affected by her at all but now it looks like Tropical Storm Earl (predicted to be upgraded to a hurricane in the next couple of days) will brush us before it heads north as well. We’ve been watching the computer models closely and it looks like were just on the outer edge of the high winds. As we all know, though, these things can change so we try to check out the NOAA website a few times a day. It’s an excellent website if you’re interested in checking it out:

http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/

As far as hurricane preparedness, we’re doing pretty good. Luckily, the local monthly Vieques magazine had a great article about getting ready for hurricanes in their August edition along with a comprehensive list of what you should have. We’ve been slowly accumulating all the necessary items and we’ve pretty much got the basics covered. Of course the one thing we can’t find here is the 18 gallon Rubbermaid tub to put everything in! That’s where Diane Greene comes in. She’s a local woman who has quite the successful gig going - she’s a main island shopper for anyone who needs something from the main island of Puerto Rico that can’t be found here. Apparently, years ago, she was able to obtain some sort of semi permanent pass for the cargo ferry that runs between here and there so consequently, she can drive her van on to the ferry every Monday. Nowadays, that isn’t so easy and if you’re thinking of trying to drive a car on, you have to make a reservations months in advance. Anyway, we just call Diane with a list of whatever we need and she goes over there and hits all the big stores - Home Depot, Walmart, Target, etc. - and delivers it to you. Her charge is 15% of the cost so I guess if she gets enough orders, that makes the trip worth her while.

So, we’re expecting to get our tub on Monday and then we’ll be able to load it up with all our supplies. Canned food, powdered milk, batteries, bleach, etc., etc. Also recommended in the article was a large bag of cat litter and a bucket - you can use your imagination on that one…..let’s hope we don’t have to go there. Two of the newer houses on the property, Casa Nueva and the Cabanita, are constructed of concrete and have strong wooden shutters that can be bolted closed over all the doors and windows so if a storm looks like it’s coming, we’ll be heading over there. The Manager’s Cabin, of course, is another story. Constructed of plywood and beams, my guess is that if a big enough storm came through, there would probably just be a pile of kindling left. Which means, of course, we need to collect everything we have of value here and lug it over to one of the other buildings. Since we don’t have that much here, that shouldn’t be too much of a problem - we’ll just load up the suitcases and backpacks we came with!

I must say, it is kind of wild to be sitting here on a lovely, sunny day knowing that out there in the Caribbean beyond our view is a huge storm churning away. I just checked the NOAA website again and now it looks like the storm is inching a little closer……argh. The worst of it should be between Monday afternoon and Tuesday afternoon so that’s what we’re preparing for at this point. We’ll keep you posted!