Ike! Yikes!

So, I knew this hurricane was coming our way, but, for some reason, I wasn't paying much attention to it. I usually don't unless it is threatening my cousin in Ft. Myers, FL or my friends in the Cayman's, or my friend in New Orleans. I mean, really, a hurricane coming to Dallas, please. But, guess what, apparently we may actually get tropical storm winds. Weird.

Yesterday, I went a meeting at work & some of my coworkers were talking about it. Then they mentioned it in the meeting but I still didn't think much about it until I got home. There was a note from the apartment complex office telling us to make sure we had extra drinking water on hand in case the water supply was contaminated, remove everything from our patios/balconies, & draw up water in our bathtubs. What?! Are they serious? Could it really get that bad?

Well, this morning my dad calls me & tells me that they were shutting off the gas pumps in New Boston because they were running out. At 8 am! So after I worked out, I ran across the street & filled my tank up. Then I ran into Wal-Mart & bought some extra water. I walked over to the apartment's gym & did my running thing (which for some reason nearly killed me today) & when I got back there was another note on my door about this storm. So, I moved everything off my porch except my satellite. I'll move it indoors if the wind really does get that high but until then I'll leave it out there. They are predicting possible power outages for us too. If it does, it is going to get very hot here. Joy. Luckily, since I've lost weight & started working out, my blood pressure has dropped significantly & the heat has not been bothering me as much this year.

I can't believe this. It is so weird.

Now, The Weather Chanel (TWC) is predicting it to move more to the east once it hits land but they are still predicting 35 - 40 mph winds here. I've been watching TWC since I got home & it does seem to be getting really bad along the coast. Scary.

LOL, the music they are using during their (TWC) "Local on the Eights" clips is hilarious. It is all dramatic & "bum ba da bum." Hehe. It is so hard to describe sounds in words. How did I do?

Is this unusual? I don't remember us ever getting much serious weather from these storms before. Am I just that young or oblivious or are these storms moving inland more? I do believe global warming is effecting our weather but I'm not one of those that believe our weather has changed all that dramatically in the last few years. I have heard experts & evidence on both sides of the argument but I'm not convinced that either are totally right. I don't know, anyway, back to the subject.

I think what they are worried about here more than anything are tornadoes. They haven't really mentioned it but I'm sure that is a concern. Hurricanes seem to be great at producing tornadoes but what is worse is there is a cold front moving into our area. These two storms are likely to meet right over us. This is bad because tornadoes usually form when the warm, moist air from the Gulf collides with the cool, dry air from the northwest. In fact, right now, the lower 2/3 of Louisiana is under tornado watch.

"Batten down the hatches," people! :)