Apparently someone really has it in for us. After Dolly, Edouard, and Gustav failed to hit us, it looks like Ike is going to give us a more or less direct hit. Actually, considering the size of Ike, it doesn’t really matter if it’s a direct hit; no matter where it makes landfall at this point, we’ll still be affected by it. Wonderful.
Before anyone asks, we have no plans to evacuate. We’ve got five pets, and the cats and dogs hate each other. It doesn’t help that the dogs are big enough where there isn’t enough room for all of us in Mom’s van. The city’s pretty much given out a “shelter in place” order, so it’s probably best if we stay off the roads. We’ll probably end up spending tomorrow getting the house prepared; I know Dad was hoping for a large-scale test of the new water pumping system for the back yard we put in, and he may well end up getting it.
On a communications front, well… seeing as this site (and most of my email) is hosted at the house, I fully expect the site to be down for at least a couple of days due to power issues. Those of you with email hosted here need not worry overmuch; the backup mail server is in Minneapolis and will hold incoming email until we’re back online here. As far as communications with me go, well… once power goes out, the best way to reach me will probably be via SMS, as it uses far less power than voice calls do. I have a pair of cell phones with charged batteries I can use once the iPhone’s battery gives out. (Thank goodness the iPhone’s SIM card can be removed.) I’ll send text messages to certain people during the storm to let you all know how we’re holding up.
Ah, well. We’ll be getting out of work at noon today so we can prepare for the storm. Hopefully things will be all right. I’ll let you all know where things stand as they progress.