high water mark

Hurricane Irma hasn't arrive in our area yet, but somehow she's already caused some flooding here.

(We were trying to fill our bathtub with clean water in case anything came up, but then we lost track of how full the bathtub was getting and it overflowed. This reminds me of when we're starting a case in the OR, make a hash of the A-line or central line or what have you, and dryly note, "Anesthesia EBL: 10 mL." We caused the very problem we were trying to avoid.)

So, Hurricane Irma's set to arrive here tomorrow. Our friends to the south obviously have it much worse than us, so it feels insulting to even tangentially compare our situation to theirs. But Atlanta is...bad at weather. So. The kids have no school for the next two days. Joe cancelled his clinic tomorrow. We got a few extra flashlights to keep on hand. (We had a bunch already, but somehow they always wander, because the kids think that flashlights are toys, which I guess they kind of are until you actually need them.) We filled up a bunch of thermoses with fresh water. We are charging all our stuff, and all our accessory battery packs, just in case the power goes out. (This is actually the most likely scenario, as the power goes out with some regularity even under normal bad weather conditions.) We opened up the pool cover and checked all the gutters. And, of course, we tried to save a bathtub full of fresh water just in case.

I honestly think it's not going to be a really big deal, in the end, but Governor Deal has declared a state of emergency (which I think it's likely the most prudent decision), so what can you do? I'll be heading in to work tomorrow (ahead of the bad weather, I think--I don't believe it's supposed to get bad until the afternoon) but I'm pretty sure that as extreme weather shelters go, a hospital is probably not a bad place to be.

Everyone stay safe, drive slow, and I'll see you at work tomorrow.