Hunkered down

When I was a kid, I’d sometimes lie awake during overnight thunderstorms, wondering how the birds and wild animals weathered the wind and rain. As much as it was comforting to be safely tucked into a warm, dry bed, I’d worry a bit about the wild things outside before finally giving way to sleep.

With Hurricane Irene on the way, J and I have done everything we can to tuck ourselves in for the next 24 hours. We have food and bottled water, and we’ve located our flashlights, batteries, and several radios. J moved the patio furniture into the garage, where it will be safe from wind, and I moved anything valuable off the basement floor, in case of flooding. We’ve charged our laptops and cell phones (and I’ve charged my Kindle) in case we lose power, which is likely, so now all that’s left is to hunker down for the night while the rain falls and the winds intensify.

We frequently see at least one cottontail rabbit in our yard, and all this week, we’ve seen a pair of cottontails nibbling grass like a pair of bunny bookends. Today while J and I were hustling around with our last bit of hurricane prep, we didn’t see anything of our usual backyard rabbits. I hope they too have found a safe, sheltered spot where they can hunker down until Irene blows out of town.