Apocalyptic Homesteading (Day 681)

over 1 year ago

Hello Everyone!

A late day entry, More storm prep, Watching the weather, Organizing the shelter & Hunkering down for the storm!

Alright, it is about an hour before sunset here so I best get to writing if I am going have a full entry completed by tonight. Doing those multiple day posts sure are appealing and all but honestly I really do enjoy doing daily entries instead if at all possible.

Outside, the winds have been steadily picking up all day long and are now gusting rather fiercely so it is safe to say that the effects of that storm have arrived. Unfortunately it looks like it strengthened again (like I thought it might) and is back to being a hurricane with its current track's forecast to bring it rather close to this area.

Since the heavy winds and rain are supposed to start not long after sunset (from the storms outermost bands) I got all the critters fed way earlier than usual just so I would not be scrambling around to do so right when the weather turns foul. Of course the chickens have yet to go into their coop to roost for the night so that is the one thing that I will have to brave the weather for at some point this evening.

This particular storm is more concerning to me than many others because it is coming in from a direction where the hill (that the cabin is built on) does not offer any protection like it does with those storms that blow in from the west. That said though there is a rather dense stand of hardwoods around the rest of the shelter site that do offer a good bit of shielding but nothing like what the hill offers!

My main concerns in this area are high winds, downed trees and lightning causing wildfires which is all too possible given just how dry it has been here over the last many weeks. There is also the chance that the grid might go down but so far I have been really surprised at the stability of the grid here throughout all the various storms and only seen it go off a few times and never for very long... so who knows what will happen there.

At this point I have prepped everything that I can and am ready to weather the storm in the cabin where I will more than likely keep the weather radio on just in case tornadoes start spinning up in the region. Given that I have been strung out on watching the storm news (in video format) the last few days... I have to say that... the idea of only listening to the radio is way less stressful!

Anyway, I know that I am super focused on all that stuff at the moment (and rightly so) but those kinds of severe weather events should never be taken lightly. Having 'dodged a bullet' several times in my life in regards to extreme weather events... I know I just got lucky and yup luck is not exactly one of those things to be counting on!

Instead I treat it all with the seriousness it deserves because yeah I can always use the stored water, or setup all the outdoor items that I have put away out of the wind... but I cannot do anything but mourn my failure if I do no preparation, under-estimate the severity of the situation and wind up in real trouble. Perhaps I have become less optimistic taking that approach but hey it is incredibly pragmatic and suits me just fine even if it requires some extra work!

On a different note, I got more stuff (this time some bags of clean laundry) hung from the cabin walls today and am yet again amazed at how I did not realize to do that sooner! Thankfully by doing so I have now regained all the usable floor space (essentially the walkway) and things feel slightly less of a cluster-cuss inside the cabin so that is a good feeling.

Alright, I have rambled on enough for one entry! I hope that everyone is doing well and has a nice day/night.