Saturday evening: 7:50 pm EDT. First bands of Irene now coming in. Just checked my gutters and leaders and now it is in the hands of Mother Nature.

I think with the disaster of Katrina, everyone in authority is now on board with early warnings and that is such good news for those of us in handicapped homes, who have sole responsibility for home and hearth.

I am a panic queen at best, even Pre-stroke. After our horrid winter and the sheer terror of a roof caving in and roof, wall damage, I am even worse. Funny Mary Beth called today and said you know you are not going to sleep all night, please get a nap in-lol.

With the reports on Monday I started then. Every day Bruce and I did our normal routine but also took care of one thing off my Hurricane Prep list. Got his and Kira's meds, turned on the ice machine and started stock piling ice. Picked up batteries for everything that is battery powered.

On Thursday I dropped him at work and picked up water, food, cat food. Cleaned coolers, filled up both vehicles. Friday when I got home from work, cleared deck of furniture. Then I lit grill and we cooked for hours. My neighbors Cliff and Mae arrived home from Arizona on Thursday. Mae's pacer could not be adjusted for the higher elevation, so it was either replace the pacer-she is 87 or come back to CT. In the meantime, movers informed Cliff there was no way they could unpack him in one day, so he has spent the last three days with a rental truck filling up his garage. Today they brought the large furniture and the appliances. In the meantime he had home and yard prep. It was Bruce who suggested we set them up with some meals and also a casserole to our dear Gloria across the street.

This morning I was up at 5:30 am and Bruce had my coffee made-lol. He knew the day he was in for-lol. Finished clearing off the deck and yard. Our friend Bob came this afternoon and cleaned the lower gutters while I added more leaders to extend the run-off away from the house. Water put up, laundry done (as much as I can stay ahead of it-lol). Gloria, Cliff and I checked in with each other throughout the day. My goal was to be done and get a shower when Bruce napped, which I was able to do.

Talked with Mary Beth throughout the day. Dave was bringing Liz back to college and Melissa was riding shot gun. They should be well ahead of any problems as they are going due west and are two hours north of me. The expect impact tomorrow afternoon. Mary was home prepping everything but Dave and Melissa should be home any time now and they should have a bit of time in the morning for any last minute preparations. My brothers, who live on the beach in Milford-about 15 miles south of me, have been evacuated. They have gone to Brittany's.

So now it is up to Mother Nature. We expect her to arrive here in CT about 9 am, however, since the extent of the storm right now is expected to be 12 to 16 hours, our worst time frame is 2 am through 2 pm. About 8 inches of water due, but with 40 to 60 mph winds, with gusts to 75; we will definitely have power outages with our foilage. Will update when I can.