Batten down the hatches

So here we are waiting on a hurricane. Since yesterday we’ve been going around securing anything that’s apt to be a flight risk in 50+ knot winds. The funny thing was that we just spent the last several days hosting my sister and her family who headed back to Cape Cod earlier this morning. While they had originally arrived here Thursday night thinking that they would have to high-tail it back to Truro in time to secure everything there, Irene meanwhile had other plans and turned oh so slightly to the north so that she’s now projected to come right up the gullet of the Connecticut River Valley while the Cape will get only a glancing blow. For those not familiar with our local geography, the CT River lies 2 miles to the east!

Our outside hay feeders, even those that weigh several hundred pounds, have all been laid on there sides to prevent (or at least minimize) damage and all of the animals on outer paddocks have been brought in where they have access to real shelter. Though we’re hoping to avoid doing so, we could even go into full lockdown farm-wide keeping the entire herd inside if the winds get truly nasty.  The chicken hutch on wheels has been put up against the Main Barn to make it a less attractive target and the paneling we normally have on some of the corral panels at that same barn as snow blocks has been removed. No one likes to go searching for 4′ x 8′ fiberglass roof panels in the woods! Fingers crossed we’ve got at least the big stuff covered…