For all of our usual praying for weather in the form of rain, today I am glued to the internet hoping for the opposite. A low pressure system is going to become a tropical depression today and has now been given a 100% chance of becoming Tropical Cyclone Emily in the next 24 to 48 hours. A 100% chance seems rather certain.
It is located southeast of here and is traveling northwest. The question will be how north vs. how west and how quickly. It will likely pass by however near or far tomorrow. Computer models abound on numerous sites mostly tracking south of here but one never knows. Michael is hanging with friends in San Diego and is due to fly on a red-eye to JFK tonight and on to St. Maarten tomorrow morning. Then there is that ferry ride across the water to get home. If the storm passes far enough away, it will be dead calm here as all of the weather is sucked into the storm. If it passes close enough, it will bring rains. And if it passes really close…..
Meanwhile, to paraphrase Hamlet: to batten or not to batten, that is the question. It is unlikely that it will develop quickly enough to be a significant hurricane when it passes by, but there are no guarantees. Without Michael here, of course, it falls on me to start at least securing outdoor items like chaise lounges and umbrellas and saw horses. (I’ve been bugging him to put those horses away for weeks so look who has to do it now? He can be so devious sometimes.)
The catch here is that all the while that I am moving things around and storing stuff away, I will be hoping that all of my effort is for naught. There’s a catch-22 for you – hoping that you are wasting your time. The way around that is to realize that this all needs to be done anyway. It is hurricane season until December, and we don’t need six chaise lounges sitting out by the pool. We don’t need any at all in as much as we never sun bathe. Tools left lying about should have been put away. All non-essential items should be stored.
So that will be my day today: secure outdoors, check the internet, secure outdoors, check the internet. Oh, but don’t ask about that iron, spiral staircase that is erected but not completely secured outside my guest room window. Remember that? No, he never did come back to finish it. Maybe I will put down just that one storm shutter after all. Even if I get lucky and don’t have to protect myself against Hurricane Emily, I probably should be prepared to protect myself against good, old Welder Donald.