Thank you! We had plans to leave on Tuesday to go to Vegas, but we cancelled yesterday and are keeping our eye on Dean. Barbra came by yesterday, and she will be down here until Sunday, and then she will head back to San Antonio. I don't know what we will do at this point. The only thing bad about living on the coast is the hurricane season.

Thanks from this front too.

Just the fact that we haven't had a big storm here since 1961 scares the daylights out of me. We are way overdue.

We are praying that this will head to the empty lands of Mexico. Not wishing it on anyone else, that is why I say the empty lands.

Janie

My heart goes out to all that may be in his path. I have family in Harlingen, so I'm keeping them in my prayers, too. I work with people that have family on the coast of Mexico. I don't know anyone in Jamaica, but boy, it looks like they're going to take an incredible hit.

Stay safe!

Sally

The best thing this one could do is; do a U-turn to the middle of the Atlantic, then a hard left to Greenland.

That would take care of it.

We actually had a person call yesterday evening with a 'survey' on how prepared we are for Hurricane Dean. I don't know if it was some kind of political deal, or just some agency trying to assess the preparedness of the Texas coast. They cannot really use the info from us, as my DH is one of those Eagle Scouts who is ALWAYS PREPARED for any situation, and our situation may not show the true facts of the situation. You know........just because we have 30 days of drinking water, does not mean everybody will. Or just because we have enough non-perishables for 30 days does not mean everyone will. And most will not. I am thankful on one hand and eternally aggravated on the other.

Also, we are only 2 middleing to old people with several pets. Those most likely to be hard hit are the young families with 3 kids, a mortgage and 2 car payments. Not much money left over to use on advance preparation.

Prayers for anybody in the path of this one.

Janie

Intense prayers going up from here too!

For those of you who may have to leave, don't forget your medications & set them with purse, car keys near the exit door along with important papers & pet food all in sealed plastic bags to grab in a hurry. Keep your vehicles full of gas.

God bless!
Suzi

Flylady has an excellent evac plan for anyone. It IS harder to have a disaster kit when money is tight but it can be done. A person just has to buy the supplies a bit at a time and set it up in an easy to locate location. PJ

Here is a link that might be useful: flylady

little dani - I'm married to an Eagle Scout too. I have one son who is a life scout with just a little bit to go until he works on his eagle project, a second son who just transferred from a cub scout pack to boy scouts and a youngest son who is going to be a bear scout this school year. We're one big scouting family here so I know what you mean about being prepared. There's also the following through to get the job done mentality that goes along with all of that.

Hopefully, all in the path of the hurricane will be prepared or at least be prepared to evacuate. My prayers are with everyone involved.

We've been following the path from the UK and thinking about all of you. Looks like Mexico is going to get the double whammy from the looks of things this morning. I'm sure there'll be plenty more rain to make it's way across Texas before the thing dies out though. Stay safe guys!

As the spouse of an Eagle Scout myself, do you find that your Eagle Scout husbands always pack enough clothing on vacations to come home with half a suitcase of CLEAN clothes, never worn???? ; ) It doesn't seem that "Be Prepared" and "Travel Light" are compatible philosophies!

My husband packs what he needs plus an extra outfit just in case. Or, at least an extra pair of underwear and socks. Now he goes on campouts with our boys and has the packing down to a fine art. It doesn't take hardly anytime at all for him to get his stuff together for a weekend camping trip.

I saw on the news that Dean has gone into Mexico south of Cancun. Hopefully, with landfall, the winds will diminish and it will fall apart. They were saying that as far north as Padre Island, they are warning people of possible riptides and high waves that may be caused by the storm. I guess the surfers will want to be there for that, but most families will want to evacuate.

Surfing w/riptides no good. Riptide beat surfer to death with own board. Bad. LOL!PJ

Yeah, I didn't think it sounded like too good of an idea either, but that is what they were talking about on the news this morning that it would attract surfers - at least stupid surfers.

I've heard of the die hards and the pro surfers doing this. My mom has pictures of wind surfers going nuts in the beginings of hurricane Hugo on St Thomas. I wouldn't even think of it. There would be NO margin for error. PJ

AND.......when they go camping, it isn't like me going camping. DHs campsite is almost as good as home. I would be cooking hotdogs on a stick, he could cook a 7 course meal!

Janie