Friday

tip-o-day

How about a couple of hurricane tips for the gals down in Houston today?

First, and this I got directly from EB who is busily prepping for Ike.
Forget the bottled water - look...all the stores are already sold out.
Just fill the tub, and get to the liquor store.

Then, from my culinary wife - cook what's in the freezer. If you're gonna lose power, not only will the frozen food thaw, but your oven won't work either. So cook it up now and pick on it over candle light.

And from me - regarding the plywood for the windows. If you live in a hurricane prone area, there should be no need to worry about running out for plywood the day before a storm (they just love to show that homedepot parking lot on the news before a hurricane).
Think ahead. Get the plywood in advance, perhaps a nice sunny Saturday.
Cut it to size and drill holes for your screws or nails or whatever hardware best suits your exterior window trim (might I suggest a metal washer as well, to preserve the drilled hole for many uses). Put your hardware for each window in a little Ziploc bag. I like to attach hardware right to the item it's intended for - you can simply use a twist tie through one of the drilled holes or staple it right to the plywood.
Be sure to label each piece of plywood, especially if you have several close in size. If you are the creative type you can even go all artsy.

Now stack them neatly in the garage, and you are ready at a moments notice for inclement weather.

Once the storm is over, take them down and let them dry thoroughly. Then stack them right back in the garage with their hardware.