We're outta here!

I feel so VERY bad leaving the cats behind (I have three)! But our apartment is situated right up against four buildings- two are over 18 stories. For Hurricane Charley, we didn't feel a thing out on our back porch, but we could see the street out to the left with tree limbs and foreign items were speeding by. That was 105mph gusts then...these will be 145. I'm still trying to convince myself that it everything will still be all right.

Dave and I were going to ride this hurricane out as well and push our next NY visit out to the 13th, but he has relatives in both Virginia and in Long Island and they are gracious enough to have us on such short notice. Also, we have given our landlord our notice of leave in October- so leaving this weekend to scout for apartments and get interviews done, being out of reach of the hurricane, and saving a ton of cash- it just all seems to make good sense. I really hope everything stays put for the 18 hour-long storm. I'm still so worried about the cats.

A friend of ours will be staying nearby our apartment, so after the storm, he's going to check on the cats and call us to give us the damage report. As for all the fish, I'll have to buy a plastic container and lots of D batteries for the portable air pump; the fish are going to Dave's parent's place in case the power goes out. Someone needs to be nearby in case the batteries go dead. They were out of power for 5 days- this one could be much worse. The cats would be way too freaked out at someone's house without us there to calm them, especially with dogs running all around.

Anyway, wish us luck, along with all the other people piling up to get up out of this long, skinny state all at the same time, and I'll post some inevitably crazy photos when I return.

To everyone on the coast: good luck, be safe, and I never ever say this, but God Bless.