Sandy????

Good morning all… Yes we are being visited by Sandy this morning. First i want to thank everyone who has contacted us about how we are doing. THe answer is "we are ok and waiting". So far we have cleared the yard, patio, porch and anything else i could think of.

Yesterday we had the start of the rain about 11am. mostly light with a little wind. By evening we had received less than 2 inches of rain, gusts to 25mph. SOOOO we headed out to get some last minute supplies. Good thing, since our local Food Lion is closed today (Wally World is open trying to grab that last nickel floating down the road). As you would suspect, folks were grabbing the essentials. Bread, milk, water, Chef Boy"rdee. We picked up emergency Ice Cream!!!!!

As you can see, not a can of Chef Boy R'dee "Sketty and meat balls" to be found.
This morning is another story though. Rain and wind started to pick up about midnight. We are only showing gusts to 25mph but the trees look like they are swaying at more. RAIN… we have  2.8 inches so far.  Temp  52f and dropping, Barometer 985mb and dropping. On the plus side, we are not experiencing flooding here at the F&P. Our usual joke about living in the Eastern Shore Mountains at 35 ft above sea level is a really important right now. Storm surge is predicted to be 8-10 feet on both the east and west side of the peninsula. This will eventually affect us since all of our storm water drains to the Seaside through Rat Trap Creek. When it backs up due to surge we feel it.
Local radio was giving a "one word" closing list…. EVERYTHING!!!!!! Well not everything. Shelters are open here for folks who are on the sea or baysides. Emergency services, power and phone, VDOT are all on duty, AND our great local radio station, WESR 103.3 FM, (Unpaid Plug) is on the air and owner Charlie Russell (Our Hero) is at the controls for the duration of the storm. Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel is at a Level 4 restrictions (small cars only, but WHY would you want to be on it??????). Chincoteague Causeway is closed. On the plus side,,,, County Emergency Radio is quiet.
We will be experiencing the height of the storm sometime this afternoon or evening as Sandy passes us, and heads towards the Jersey Shore. From the radar we are watching (Weather Underground) the worst of Sandy is on the west side. For more updates you can go to WWW.wunderground.com, and type 23418 into the search box to connect directly to our weather station.
 BUT never fear, kitchen preparations are well under way. We have defrosted a nice container of Pumpkin soup, I made a new loaf of bread yesterday, and we have lots of salad stuff. This mornings Hurricane Breakfast will be 'Pumpkin Pancakes & Bacon". AND just in case we have extended problems, the Princess is whipping up a crockpot of Black Bean Soup while we still have power. Now you didn't really think you would get through a post without some food talk??????
Some warnings….. If you I've west of us get ready for wind and rain. If you are in the Blue Ridge you might even be getting some snow (I'm jealous). North of us, you are really in for a rough 24 hours. Wind, Rain, trees and wires down possibly.
More later as long as we have power and DSL connection.
Stay Safe all. Grenville