Eek on the fires and Ash and thank you for the invite. I’m half thinking about Iowa for family, Rhode Island for friends.
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Oh man, so sorry to hear this … both in terms of living through Katrina and the possibility of dealing with something like this again! For whatever it’s worth, I’ll keep you in my thoughts (along with all of my southeastern friends, who are running through the same paces right now).
Yeah, my family and I have been having this discussion today. We’ve had nasty smoke from surrounding fires (BC, MT, eastern WA) for the last month + but this newest one along the Gorge has just kicked it up a notch or ten. I’ve gotten used to the red sun/red moon, but this morning my LR & DR walls were glowing a deep red-orange. Beautiful, but spooky 
We’re not in as much danger as those further south, but yikes. Here’s hoping that the world and the weather lighten up a bit, and we all stay safe in the meantime.
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It has been harsh this year. You guys in the fire zone stay alert as well. 
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Old backpacker trick. They’re very calorie dense for their size. Double-stuff ones have even more (2 double stuff Oreos equals 3 regular ones). Pretty good (read high) fat content in each cookie due to the Crisco used in the center 
They take up little room for the calories and still work when damaged.
Another good emergency food is Fig Newtons (1 bar equals 2 Oreos). Lower in fat - their calories come from the sugars. They don’t travel as well - the edges crumble off.
On the other hand, if you want real calorie density head straight to the dairy case and buy butter. It doesn’t really need refrigeration but it has serious calorie density - one of the few foods that can keep up with the calorie expenditure of an AT thru hiker 
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That makes sense. (And did not know Oreos were stuffed with Crisco. Sigh!)
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Awwww, man, now I want an Oreo.
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Fat is what makes food delicious.
At least you’ve never eaten a stick of butter plain. (They’re actually pretty tasty rolled in sugar 
)
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I believe the French call that a beignet. (Just kidding - i think there’s some flour in there too.)
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It sounds like you will, but stay safe.
I started gathering some stuff that I can use if the storm does not end up coming this way (hope it doesn’t.) like bottled water, batteries (we were a bit low anyway) and ammo.
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Yeah, unfortunately the ammo is important, because the looters have been out in full force here for the last week. They actually used boats to get started this time - not to save people, but to steal from them after the devastation. Several caught from this area already.
First you have to deal with the animals, then you have to deal with the animals. Of the two, I have more sympathy for the snakes.
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Jackson, MS where I live really changed a lot with Hurricane Katrina, because many New Orleans and MS coast evacuees left and never went home.
Horrible to hear. Sorry!
Really interesting. I didn’t know that. if my sugar is crashing after I’ve not had enough to eat and I’m weed eating the 3/4 acre I own, I will pop a couple of Oreos for this very reason. I knew the sugar would help and they turn around a hypoglycemic spell really fast.
Yep…you’re totally right. I have a bunch already, but it never hurts to get a few more boxes. They can be used almost like currency, even if you’re not using them to defend your family from animals. When things break down, blue jeans, batteries and ammo are the currency.
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I bought a bunch of stuff to hunker down with tonight, but if this keeps on track we will probably leave tomorrow night or Thursday. Looks way too nasty to chance it. Gas is already in a shortage. I’m almost glad my GF isn’t here yet because I’d have no room to take it in the car. (My kids and other irreplaceable treasures trump even the GF )
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I’d seriously offer a bed to someone who has to bug out but I don’t how hard we’ll get hit yet.
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You would think that in a state that has earned a reputation for the elevated right to shoot trespassers, people would have more sense of self preservation to not tempt fate. Yikes.
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Yeah, we keep thinking so too, but not so far. Usually some need for drugs driving the thinking process though, so not the best logic being applied there anyway.
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I always thought these kinds of disasters provide the perfect opportunity to get away with murder. Not to be ghoulish, but if you were so inclined you could toast someone and drag them off somewhere to shove them into the floods or an abandoned house or somewhere. They’d become just another unidentified body out of all the hundreds or thousands other ones who died.
I wonder how many of the unidentified or missing victims of Katrina, Sandy, Harvey, etc were deliberate.
I guess that’s my morbid thought of the day.
I’m telling my FL employees to plan on evacuating and coming here and we’ll cover transportation & living costs until things settle.
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My first reading(schoolboy French) turned that into bayonet, and i immediately had this Pythonesque picture of a bunch of uniformed WW1 French soldiers charging the enemy lines with fixed bayonets made of butter.
Perhaps it’s time for another afternoon coffee.
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ROFL! You guys are a little scary sometimes! 
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Very noble of you.
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This storm is devastating the Caribbean Islands. I feel really bad for everyone that had to hunker down and couldn’t evacuate. I live about 100 feet from the ocean in Jacksonville Beach. I’ll be heading inland to stay with a friend.
Our town just finished the dunes replenishment and replanted all new sea oats after Matthew destroyed them. Unfortunately they are far from mature and the dunes will probably be washed away again. I hope everyone stays safe. Prepare for the worst and hope for the best.
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