They say we'll probably get rain and high winds, I just hope it doesn't affect my flight to CA on Saturday!!!

Praying it doesn't hit land.

Buckle down East Coast, better to be prepared.

We are in the path of it (New Brunswick) and have been watching it closely. Made sure we have some of the essentials on hand.
Casey if I was you I would check into your flight...maybe try and get out earlier. It is supposed to hit us and Nova Scotia through the night on Friday/Sat.

Rosemary, I hope you have lots, and I mean LOTS, of water, especially if you have a well and septic tank. If the electricity goes off you'll have nothing, nada, zip! We were without electricity 4 days in a row several times so I kept a big (clean) plastic trash barrel just for water for cleaning up the best we could and the toilet.

At least when it goes up the coast the shoreline is on the "tamer" left side of the hurricane. But that's plenty bad enough. Wish you good luck and hope it takes a right turn quickly.

Rosemary - I'm down in Edenton, NC., only a bit nervous. Isabel is still very fresh in my mind. We lost power for 5 days, water for 7 days.

We went and stocked up today, just in case. Getting ready right now to go see what Don Slater has to say!

We have sufficient drinking water. I stocked up yesterday morning at 6:00 am at the Mall-wart. And for *other* needs, we have these. There's a fourth on the side of the house. They're great for watering the garden. After 15 minutes of rain, they're 100% full. That's 220 gallons of sweet-smelling rain water. They work very well.

I have only been home from shopping for about an hour. Did not know our county has been upgraded to a hurricane WARNING. Ugh. Also, Earl is back up to a cat 4. Double ugh.

During Isabel, we had the swimming pool water to use to flush the toilets. We don't have the pool any longer. :(

Rosemary, won't a hurricane just move those water barrels down the road a few miles?

Patti43, I would be very careful discussing tips on what to do during a hurricane or power outage on this board. People don't take kindly to helpful tips. Look what happened to me here:

http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/kitchentable/msg082319248487.html?21

Here is a link that might be useful: Again?

jodi - if they aren't already full, generally the rain would come and fill them before winds that are strong enough to blow those barrels away.

I don't believe any of us have much to worry about. The thing with Earl, it's a very large storm, so even if the eye comes no where close, we'll still be seeing wind and rain. For my area, they aren't expecting more than 35 mph winds (gusts to 50) and 2 inches of rain. But sustained winds of 35 can, and probably will, do some damage.

Good luck, East Coasters!! Let's pray that the storm turns quickly. I'm watching the evening news now and it's not looking too good. Please be careful out there!

I'm leaving for California tomorrow out of Newport News. I hope there's no power outage because I have a freezer full of food. If we were home, we would run the generator. I guess that's another reason to have a system that goes on automatically if the power goes off. However, we bought the generator after Isabel and have had no reason to run it ever since.

Even if we lose power, I don't think it will be for a long period.... unless Earl doesn't make that northerly turn. Have a safe trip!

Because of the country's geography, S. Jersey almost never gets a direct hit from hurricanes. They're predicting some showers for down the shore, but don't expect we'll even get rain in our locations--this time around there's a cold front coming that will most likely push the hurricane out further into the ocean. Even when we do get 'hurricanes' they're more like run of the mill nor'easters around here. I don't think we've ever had power go out for more than 3-4 hours tops. Although, if there are any outtages, DH just may be getting MORE overtime (just when we thought he was going to have his first Sat. off since the first weekend in May!)

well i admit for the first time in a couple of yrs i had that 'sick, nervous, gotta buy a buncha-stuff and do tons more before hurricane blah blah blah' when this got near PR. for once atleast FL is not getting it, thou it has been very windy and waves normally at 1.5' are coming in at 8' so glad i just started beachside condo shopping and haven't bought yet lol. there are tons of tips on the thread i linked up it's from the FL Gardening forum, i can't believe it's still around LOL it originated in 2005 after our horrific season of 2004, orlando alone had 3 hurricanes in 6 wks (we went w/o power for 24 days). earl has inspired me thou to do a super cleaning of the house this weekend just in case we have to go w/o A/C for days or weeks on end this season, i'm not running a vacuum on the generator LOL.

the only thing anyone living w/in 100 miles of the gulf or atlantic coast really needs is a whole house generator LOL. with that toy you need nothing else but window protection or flood control. that is the only thing for hurricanes i do not own, yet...one good hurricane this yr and i'm sold. for what i spent on living w/o power for 24 days i could have bought a Kohler house generator, if i could have found one back then, and still saved $$. the generator we have is a PIA to use, needs gas every 4 hrs (running everything but A/C), makes alot of noise and spews CO2.

hopefully everyone along earls' path takes heed of what happened during hurricane andrew, charley and katrina ~ liz

Here is a link that might be useful: from the hurricane experts....

Dilly dally, I'm not sure what you're talking about-?? If anyone ever feels like I'm butting in rather than maybe help them a little, I sure hope they would let me know.

Your link was pulled, dilly dally

Read through the links but didn't see these - fill your washer with water and your tubs. You can use it for spnge bathing or flushing toliets. If you add a little clorox, you can use it for drinking.

I have a list somewhere of how long you can keep things in the fridge once the power is out. If anyone is interested I can dig it out of the drawer.

Oh,,fill bags or liter bottles with water to pack in spaces in your freezer. Of course it has to be done ahead of time but it helps keep it cold if you do loose power.

I appreciate many people's suggestions, for if it's something that concerns me, especially something as serious as a hurricane, though I may have thought of some, there usually are some that I hadn't thought of and can use.

If someone wants to power-wash the poster ... well, that'll cool them a bit, clean some dirt off and possibly make them smell better.

Not something to get upset about - says more about the bi!cher than the poster, it seems to me.

ole joyful

Well said, Joyfulguy!

We live on Cape Cod and as of one hour ago, all furniture, plants, hanging baskets are off of our deck and stowed in the garage. The only thing left out there is our big, huge grill that is too heavy to move and no place to move it to. My cell phone is charged and I have food in the house that does not require any cooking. We are good for several days with no power. My husband is a Red Cross Volunteer so if Earl hits he will be working at the local shelter and I will be home, enjoying what ever nature tosses our way. Nothing left to do but wait, drum my fingers and pace. We are ready, just hope that Earl is pushed out to sea.

sooey
who is very happy to live close to but NOT directly on the water.