It’s about 2:15AM on Thursday morning and we just had our first power flicker. It went off for about a minute. Many surrounding areas have already lost power, so we’ve been lucky so far.

At this time, the eye of the hurricane is just now coming ashore in Orange Beach, AL. Many reports of damage are coming in from areas in South Alabama. But for now, we are doing ok. I just pray that Becky is doing okay in Pensacola, FL. I know they’ve already lost power, so we’ll find out hopefully tomorrow or Friday how she weathered this storm.

It’s a waiting game now. Waiting for Hurricane Ivan. As far inland as we are (we’re about 200 miles from the coast), people here have been going nuts. Lowe’s ran out of plywood yesterday. But there were folks from the coast getting it here, because they ran out earlier. Also yesterday, almost every store in this area was out of batteries, flashlights and bottled water. People are having to drive to nearby towns just to get the supplies. We had trouble getting water containers so we could fill them up with water since we have a high risk of flood in this area.

We just got a webcam and set it up to allow family and friends monitor the conditions at our house. The link will be in the sidebar. Of course the webcam will only last till we lose power. If we’re lucky, we’ll keep power till sometime tomorrow. Just to remind everyone, we are in Montgomery, AL, just to the east of the forecasted path.

Anyone reading this in the storm’s path? How are things in your area? How are you doing? I’ll try to post updates as long as I can. Currently, newsfolk are saying we’ll be feeling tropical storm winds…50 to 75mph tomorrow. If Ivan strengthens, we may feel some hurricane winds before its all over. But fortunately, we’re inland enough that we won’t get the worst of it. We are already in tornado watch, flood watch and high wind watch.

Well, the weekend was pretty good. Saturday, we watched some football with friends. Then my husband went off to another friend’s house to play video games, while I stayed home watching movies and knitting. Sunday, we did yard work. Mowed, weeded… And E cleaned out the garage. We can now fit my Pathfinder in the single car garage. Amazing. Of course you have to climb out a window, because it’s such a tight fit that the doors don’t open. But if the need arises, at least we know it can be done. It definitely looks strange in there now with so much open space.

E made a little cover in the back yard using tarp to put the lawn mower. It gets it out of the garage, but just as we move it outdoors, we may have to move it back inside if Hurricane Ivan comes our way.

It is predicted to come ashore Thursday morning in the panhandle of Florida and make its way north into Central Alabama…putting us in its direct path or real close to it. So the mower may be making its way back inside in a few days.

Yes, we are getting prepared. We normally wouldn’t be concerned this far inland (we are about 3 hours from the coast), but we’ve seen first hand the damage a major hurricane can cause, so if it looks like it will come anywhere near us, we want to make sure we’re ready.

As bad as it could get though, I would prefer Ivan to come this way and leave Central Florida alone. They have endured enough this season.

My sister got a webcam so she could see her boyfriend while talking to him via instant message. She is in Texas and he is in Missouri. She is nuts and now has convinced my parents to get a webcam too. Next thing they will be begging me to get one. I probably won’t though, since I know I’d never use it. I’m rarely on instant message except at work and I’m not bringing a webcam to work.

We got a new water bowl for the dogs this weekend. I mentioned that in a previous post. It is the kind that has the jug above it and dispenses water into the bowl. It seemed like a great idea…fill the just and we don’t have to keep refilling the bowl. The jug holds 2.3 gallons of water, so it should last more than a week.

Well, now it has proven to be a problem. Last night, our dogs were drinking from their new bowl and the thing burped. We have 2 dogs. One is a Cocker Spaniel/Miniature Husky mix (Sadie). The other is a German Shepard/Austrailian Shepard mix (Dakota). So Sadie is about half the size of Dakota. Apparently Dakota was drinking the water when it burped. It freaked her out so badly, she won’t go near the water.

If she wants food, she takes a huge arc path around the water bowl to the food bowl. My husband has to hold her close, for her to even get near it enough to take a drink. I just hope she gets over her fear of the water jug. I don’t want to put the regular bowl back out. But I worry that she will stay away and not get enough water to drink.

They survived Frances. She wasn’t as bad as Charley for my family. My in-laws only discovered 2 new leaks in the roof and all the tarps that were on the roof held. They felt 80 mph winds, less than the 95 they had with Charley.

My family weathered well. My parents left home to stay with family near Tampa and what happened. Their house was fine, but my aunt’s house, where they were staying, had a power outage when a transformer nearby blew up. Go figure.

My SIL stayed the weekend with us and we had a great time. She had some trees down in her area but no major damage. We actually went shopping at the mall. I haven’t done that in so long. And you’ve never believe it, but it was my husband’s idea! He wanted to get out of the house so he let us go shopping. It was so much fun. I bought a new sweater that is officially my new favorite sweater. I can’t wait for the cooler weather so I can wear it.

We also got a new bed for the dogs and they love it so much, they share it. It’s the cutest thing. And we got them a water jug, so now we don’t have to refill their water bowl a million times a day. This thing hold almost 3 gallons of water, so it will last a while before we have to add more water.

Anyway, we are waiting to see what hurricane Ivan does. This is a bad summer for Florida. Two major hurricanes within a month and another one on the way…appearing to follow in Charley’s footsteps. I just pray it doesn’t hit the same place. Many people that suffered Charley’s direct hit still don’t have power. A co-worker of my SIL’s said she had trouble getting a uhaul to bring her stuff back to school when classes started. Many were already taken by people who are living in them because they don’t have homes. And hotels are just too expensive. The people in Florida need a break. They don’t need another hurricane.