(AF) Planting on Hold & Storm Prepping

I had planned to set up at the flea market today (Friday - I'm still up and it is still Friday for me) - but it just didn't work out that way for several reasons. I had also planned to come straight home while I still had a long stretch of daylight and get a few more veggie plants set out. But when I saw the weather report this morning, the entire day changed and I never left the house.

I could not believe what I was reading. They were giving storm and tornado warnings for the next day.... more than 24 hours away!! see here   Everywhere I looked the reports said the same ... spend the day preparing for the worst storms possible, for multiple tornadoes, hurricane force winds, softball sized hail... and the list went on. They said to prepare all life forms with emergency preparedness, securing food and water and tie everything possible down. They said to make sure to prepare TODAY because there might not be enough time tomorrow. GEEZ!!!! So I watered my new little plants, left them in their pots, let them enjoy some sunshine today, then brought them back inside tonight. Planting them in the ground was not going to be a good option today! I am still trying to figure out what to cover the 3 tomato plants with, that I already have planted (something that won't blow away). And then there are loads more planted at Dave's (all the stuff I got on my last visit to the produce market, plus the tomatoes he started early. He has been so busy getting them all planted every spare minute he could muster.)  They need to be covered, I am sure, but it is very difficult to cover that many plants, and it is also difficult, even here in Oklahoma, to comprehend the magnitude of what they say is forming over us.

I have spent the day doing several things to prepare, but there is still so much to be done (that won't get done in time). I just hope and pray they are wrong, it is less severe and it misses us. Course, it is raining right now, even as I type. I have so many plants and cuttings in pots out there, that I just don't have the strength still to get them all put away somewhere sheltered. I am not sure where I would even put that many. Many are up against the house, and the rest are up under trees, but certainly still not safe from huge hail and extremely high winds. I will have to just do what I can do and pray hard the  rest survives. Preparing for the safety of me and my critters will have to come first and foremost.

Times like these are when I wish I had a storm cellar. But I have rarely ever seen one that didn't stay full of water and snakes. I still hope to someday have one that is good and dry. It would be a great place to store a Fall harvest, too. I remember when I was little, growing up with a cellar packed with shelves full of home canned fruits and vegetables, and walking around on cinder blocks to get to them without getting our feet wet in the cellar. I was a pretty big kid before I learned that you could get veggies in a can at the grocery store! They weren't as good, though.

Well, every critter on the place is actually quiet all at once and sleeping, so I think I will quit rambling now and head up to bed. I will need to get up early in the morning and make some last minute preparations, such as bringing in plenty of drinking water and making sure I have plenty of matches and candles close at hand. The power goes out here at the slightest breeze, and my water pressure is already down to a tiny, thin, trickle (something appeared to have broken in the last storm and they are taking their time fixing it). But I still hope they are wrong and all this prepping can just be chalked up to practice.

Good night, and to all of you that are also in the predicted path of this possible storm outbreak, my prayers and good thoughts are with you. Stay safe!