Oh, the weather outside is frightful!

UGH! Another storm hitting but this time on top of the wind we have high waves and a cold front followed by snow! We've done all that we can do at this point to prepare. We bought all of the pipe coverings which went over the electric warming tape we already had on the pipes in case we lose power. We have all of the propane tanks filled for heat and cooking (too bad no natural gas down our way but NW doesn't have enough gas to make it out to our area. So much for "there's no need").

We have twenty five gallons of gasoline in reserve plus the generator's filled. If we lose power we will be able to run for three days if we used it constantly and six if we used it half of the time. Thank goodness gasoline prices are below $2/gal right now. I filled my tank and 15 gallons in spare gas all for less than $36! WOW. Three months ago, in the red truck, I filled the tank and it cost me over $72!

We have all the flashlights ready, the battery operated lanterns as well as the propane lanterns, the kerosene lanterns, and the white fuel lanterns filled. Candles are stocked. All of the bathrooms have the tiny tap lights stuck on the wall right by the light switch so they are easy to find and down the hallway so Dad can find his way easily.

Just letting all the fam that is far away know that we are pretty well prepared for this storm so even if we lose our contact by cell phone you should know we have everything pretty well taken care of. Papa has all of his meds up to date and more than enough (they come via mail, in three month supplies). Grams and I just came back from a Costco shopping spree where we even got some cedar to decorate (yeah, we are surrounded by cedar but YOU climb up those trees and cut down their limbs)!

We have out the board games for later, right now we are Wii-ing. Books are stacked up. If cable goes out I also bought the seventh and final season of West Wing which Bart and I missed and are looking forward to watching. I actually bought it in January or February and have been picking up quite a few movies whenever they go on sale, preparing for a time when the power/cable goes out again. Its no big deal when it is for a few hours, like night before last when the power pole went down and we lost electricity from 6pm until 1 am. But when it is the second, third or fourth day the games are getting pretty old and movies are a nice respite.

We even remembered to get our five gallon water jugs refilled. With each winter storm we get a little bit better. Clatsop County's new Emergency Operations Center may get christianed with this storm. Bart is not looking forward to a repeat of last year's crisis on Hwy 26! I keep checking the ODOT camera to see if Seaside's flooding but even at the high tide when Youngs Bay came over the road at Linehan's corner the road in Seaside looked pretty clear. We will see what happens and hope Bart doesn't have to go out in this. If they open the EOC then I will take a run over to the media room and find out what is going on and post live from there to NorthCoastOregon.com. Remember to read there or KAST for updates on how this area is faring doing down here. If you can't get a hold of any of us leave a meassage on the comment section of NCO and we will try to respond there, too, as the satellite allows.

Also, if you read the article a couple of us pulled together on NCO, you can check out what's happening here by looking at the ODOT cameras and the Brevins cameras. Of course, you can't see our house in any of those shots but you can see different points across the county and get a general idea of what is happening around here.

I am puting this on time delay so it will post tomorrow morning. Hope you all are safe and warm. Keep the Jelly Bean happy and her mama (hmm, wonder what I am hoping for!), too. Love you all.