Earl's a comin' (or at least close enough to expand our vocabulary!)

See how that red path goes right over my house?

I've spent a lot of time on the Outer Banks over the years, and I've come to know these salty old men who can always tell if the hurricane is, in fact, going to come. I told my husband last night that's what I want to be when I grow up--a salty old woman who can tell whether the storm is coming or not. So I sat outside for a while last night, trying to hone this skill, smelling the air, feeling the wind direction, swatting the gnats, but nothing. So far I have shown no gift in this area. But I'm going to keep trying. I'll let you know if anything changes.

So for now I'm going to have to go with the meteorologists (How pedestrian is that?) who seem to think Earl is headed for our beloved Outer Banks and even Edenton by the looks of things. I don't want to offend anything who has ever lost a loved one in a hurricane, but I do want to speak the truth. And here's the thing: hurricanes are kind of exciting. Not like, I hope it's dangerous exciting, but there's a stir in the air, the surfers are all headed for the big waves, everyone's boarding up and painting 'go away' signs on plywood that has storm names on them that go back twenty years or more. I read a hilarious interview with some surfers on the Outer Banks last night, and the gist of what one guy said was this: "When a big storm comes, it brings everybody together, and we haven't had a storm in a while. I think it's time for another one to unite the community." Now that sounds kind of ridiculous in a way, but it does kind of capture the feeling of storm preparation in this area. Today we're all still cool and in a 'wait and see' mode (except for the surfers--waves already up some), but in the next 48 hours things will go one way or another. Guess I'll pick up some batteries...

My FAVORITE thing about hurricane season is the plethora of exciting verbs on the weather channel. Last night one of the youngsters on the weather channel said, "The wind is lashing the coast of San Juan." We looked at each other: amateur. Save the LASHING for Thursday when the storm is actually hitting the mainland, when your viewership is up, when everyone is hanging on your every word. So here is a starting list of my favorite hurricane words:

whipping slice rip tear lash crash trounce blast
gust pummel crush soak drench flood deluge inundate
torrential downpour pelt slam thrash howl roar yammer

Help me add to this list as the week goes on. Maybe there will even be some new words this year. Ooh, I just love it.

What are your favorite storm words? Share them with me! Just the thought of all these delicious words makes me shiver. Ooooh, I can't wait. But I have to get some writing in before I turn on the Weather Channel today. But I PROMISE to add some cool words to this list. I KNOW there will be some.

Have a great day, and batten down the hatches!