Hurricane Madness

About 90 minutes ago, I decided to take heed of the warnings saturating the media and went out to buy a few essentials for the storm--water, batteries, salad greens, fruit, cookie mixes (per Evan's request and the city's recommendations) and some batteries and a torch. I needed to hit a few local shops to pick up a few ingredients I need for a fish tagine I'm making this weekend if we still have power, and I also wanted to get a couple of Indian ready made meals from Patel Brothers supermarket to take into work for dinners (that way I *won't* grab bagels).

The streets looked deceptively normal--the weather is great--but then I hit the madness that was the local supermarkets. Patels was pretty busy but a lot of it looked like normal shopping. Then I hit Trade Fair and Met Foods which were nuts--so much so that certain items were already gone (bananas, cookie mixes). People were bulk buying meats and one woman clutched her canned black forest ham. Queso, salsa, chips, large quantities of nuts, soda and pet food seemed popular too, as did bags of sugar, peanut butter and jam. I figure people are going to cook tons of meat tonight and Saturday and eat that cold as and when we lose power.  The fruit stands were also busy--again bananas seemed to be the big favorite, along with tomatoes and bagged carrots. I found some black figs and got three ($1) as a little pre-hurricane treat. Mixed salad greens were neglected and I stocked up as they may end up being our Sunday dinner in a salad with avocados, small tomatoes, cheese, walnuts and some eggs that I need to hard boil soon. I am glad I got some 12 grain and seed bread from Whole Foods yesterday as it is evidently insane in there today.

I hit the dollar store very close to home and managed to get three gallons of Poland Spring water and staggered back under the weight of all my shopping. We have 4 gallons of water now and maybe could get a couple more, but I didn't want to stockpile at someone else's expense. Already water seems scarce in quantities over 1 litre bottles. All this seems like madness--we still need to get a torch and batteries--maybe two--so we can read if the power goes out. I'm also charging ipods and laptops so I can watch movies--I think my Mac will give me about 4 hours of entertainment that way. Fortunately we already buy cat food in bulk as our three have rather healthy appetites so there's a lot of Wellness in the house--I just hope no windows blow out as I don't want to have to wrangle them into their carriers.

Hopefully, none of this will be necessary. But one thing is certain--I won't be going to pilates on Sunday morning as we're all supposed to be indoors from 2 p.m. Saturday till 2 p.m. Sunday. I'm not panicking and expect this will be more fuss over nothing--at least, that's what I'm hoping, but better safe than sorry.