American Red Squirrel in the morning

Sun it Rises
Fleet Foxes
Red squirrel in the morning
Red squirrel in the evening
Red squirrel in the morning
I'm coming to take you home


Sun risin' over my head
In the morning window
Hold me dear into the night
Sun it will rise soon enough

Sun risin', dangling there
Golden infant in the sky

Sun it Rises

Nelson

I'll try Door #1, please.

Red sky in morning, sailors take warning. Plenty of Hurricane Irene warnings to go around today. This has the makings of a terrible, terrible storm. Fifty Five million people could possibly be in the path, the biggest threat to the East Coast in two decades. That storm, twenty years ago was named Bob, Hurricane Bob(we have a new alphabetized list published every hurricane season) and it was a bad one. The top of a tree out front snapped off as I was going out to move the car to a safer location. That was before the winds had picked up, before the storm had really honed in on us. The treetop sailed through the air and smashed into the door I had just come out of. I was totally unscathed, but had never been so scared in all of my then 42 years.

So, I, we, all New Englanders take hurricanes very, very seriously. Irene could blow out to sea or hit us with a glancing blow or mighty wallop on Sunday. We are not going to Maine. We are not leaving the house and cats with such predictions, questions, possibilities. We can go next Thursday just as easily, and we will. No need to put our petsitter at risk coming out in such a storm with flying trees and downed power lines to care for terrified Max & Raspberry. We decided last night and today's work involves charging flashlights, checking batteries and beginning to secure outside furniture.

The weather is hyped here to the maximum, it's a favorite topic, but one has to listen and be ready. I'm hoping we have power, it would be sad to have a posting gap since this is #480 without one, or even a backblip, but we'll see.

We've had some bad ones in my childhood as well,Hurricane Donna was a scary one in 1960. Here I am with my brother, posing by the top of a huge pine that flew through the air and landed with a fearsome noise in the side yard in the dark of night during that storm.

For the record,
This day came in sunny with increasing humidity and thunder on the way.