We prep for Irene

It's hard to imagine that today--a gorgeous day on Hell Mountain with the sun shining, a breeze gently blowing, and toasty summertime temperatures--is preceding the touch down of Hurricane Irene in New England. Reports are saying that, at this rate, when Irene hits Vermont, she'll still be a cat-1 storm. Sure, not a big deal but considering the fact that she'll have come all the way from the southern Caribbean, up the coast, and this far inland, I'm more than a little concerned about the wallop she could potentially pack.

In addition to the impending doom that this lovely day is trying hard to hide (but slightly failing at, I'm a worrier), summer up here is already so criminally short and it feels like it's being cut even shorter now. Taking down garden ornaments, stowing the Adirondack chairs from around the fire pit, finding places for my plants to hang out inside, securing storm windows... Is it October already?

Surprisingly enough, we don't have a generator (yet) up here. In the seven-and-a-half years that I've been here, I bet we've lost power fewer than 10 times and it's typically in the winter. Despite the age of our home and the repairs that we do need to get done (we all have 'em!), we're set up okay for power outages. We swore off the furnace last year, so heat comes from the wood stove. Our cook stove uses propane and our water comes from a gravity-fed spring. Andy's going to check and clear the culverts tonight when he gets home so that the driveway doesn't flood or washout. I'll dig out the land line phone, like I always do in bad weather, and we'll probably end up wiling away the power outage with a good book and some cold beers.

Likewise, I got out into the coop today to make sure that the chickens had plenty of food and water. I'm not sure whether or not the fence to the peeperie (my affectionately mock-French nickname for our chicken run) will hold up, but we'll just have to wait and see. My sense is that the girls, the roos, and the duck will hunker down just like us, though I hope they don't camp out for too long on the porch that leads to the shed where the coop is. That's their rainy day hang out space and it's covered in poop!

What the storm ultimately does for me is call to mind what's in store for us this winter and all of the preparing that has to start while the sun is still beating down on us. Firewood is at the top of the list, of course. We also have to find someone or something (hopefully Andy and a new quad) to plow the driveway. Winters are tough up here and they add a layer of complication that's highly stressful and pretty gosh darn unpredictable.

So, with that said, I guess I'll go huck a few more logs from the pile into the shed... But maybe save a few for one last bonfire, even if it means hauling the Adirondack chairs back out to the pit.

That's it for now!
~Kate