hurricane prep

I grew up in hurricane country and am used to preparing for a big blow. I recall Hurricane Gloria (1985) like it was yesterday, trying to sleep in the upstairs hallway, the only place in our cheap townhouse that had no windows, listening to the radio announcer describe the wind speed and the damage throughout the city. I hightailed it to my grandmother's house in 2001 during Hurricane Isabel with Will and Mary in tow, figuring that her house had withstood many storms in the past 175 years (and they had electricity). I even managed to get to class at Virginia Tech through Hurricane Hugo in 1989 and see the enormous devastation to the forests 300 miles inland.

But hurricanes in Maine? Not supposed to happen. But I do know what to do:

charge Coleman lanterns- check
bring in everything outside that could blow away- check
close all barn and garage doors- check
set up generator and practice plugging in and starting- check

roll up the windows in the van - uh-oh. Someone's going to be sitting on towels on the way to Mass and hoping the wet doesn't seep through to her skirt.