2nd in line for 30 minutes, final countdown

So the Prius was between a quarter and half tank of gas so I wanted to try to fill it on the way home if possible.  I passed a number of stations that had bags over the pumps or had lines that were just insane so I kept rolling.  As I approached the intersection of Pine Ridge Rd and 951 I saw a tanker truck in the lot of the Circle K, meaning they have or will have gas shortly.  I took a chance and spun a U-turn.  All of the pumps had cars already waiting for the refill to finish but I did manage to be second in line.

I had no idea how long the tanker had been there but I certainly didn’t mind waiting.  Wait I did, somewhere between 30-40 minutes until the refill was done and the attendant unbagged the pumps.  It was an odd thing.  If I was in the back of a 30-40 minute long line of cars waiting for a gas I would be very annoyed and frustrated.  However waiting the same amount of time, knowing I was second in line didn’t hardly bother me at all.  I just rolled down the windows to watch and listen to the growing hysteria of people trying to converge on the fresh supply of gasoline.  By the time I left, the station was surrounded in every direction by vehicles trying to get in.

So Cindy was busting her ass at the house yesterday doing some preliminary hurricane prep outside.  She was doing her best to clear the patio deck and secure smaller things in the sheds. She also waited in line to get two more of the five gallon gas containers refilled which will give us a solid fuel supply for the generators. I really appreciated her efforts and I am sure she will be helping me tomorrow with the very ugly job of boarding up the house, unless the forecast track of the storm shifts dramatically east.

Even though it seems like the full fury of the storm will be more of an east coast event, at least at this point, we likely still will be smacked hard by Irma.  My biggest concerns are the outbuildings, the pool cage and my water equipment shelter I built last year staying intact.

Along with that is of course the chickens who live in one of those outbuildings.  The shed we converted to a coop is wind rated to something like 70mph, which means it will probably survive slightly higher wind load.  I am hoping to snag a couple 2×4’s and some u-bolts after work so I can build some additional temporary bracing for the trusses inside the coop.  The coop has been exposed to a lot of severe wind from numerous thunderstorms and has performed very well.  Of course a hurricane is a different beast. We are still planning to relocate the chickens to the garage once things start to get serious.  Catching/carrying the ten hens up to the garage should be a lot of fun.

The office is officially closed on Friday and likely Monday depending on how severe the impact is in our area.  I may pop in here before then just to let you know if we are alive or not.