Thursday, September 16, 2004

More on Ivan

Talked to my parents and grandmother in Pensacola this morning. They're without power, but their landline phone has survived thus far. Dad said winds were dying down to 25mph steady with higher gusts. A tornado touched down a mile from their house, supposedly, but that's more rumor-mill than anything verified.

I was right yesterday when I predicted to family and co-workers that we'd lose power here by noon. I was pleasantly wrong in that it has been out 2 or 3 times, each time for less than a minute. Thanks, Alabama Power. Somebody's working hard today, I'm sure.

Winds are strong, and the rain is hard and steady, but so far nothing of note has happened here. Even Dish Network hasn't gone out, which I'm guessing means that the clouds aren't very tall, to block the signal.

I'm wishing we had been doing more all along to be prepared. We should always have a few days of water on-hand, and months of food, and so forth. I'm wishing I hadn't let my amateur radio license expire (and hadn't sold my gear). Etc. It shouldn't take much effort to always be prepared for such things. (I suggested to Wife that maybe we should do such things, and have an annual "energency" practice to try it out. She looked at me funny, but agreed that it'd be a good idea.)

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