Rita, Rita - Wherefore Art Thou, Rita?

1:00pm and no sign of bad weather. The trees are starting to sway a bit, and there are a few more clouds, but it still looks like a normal September day.

We locked the doors to the hospital at 12:00noon today - only people allowed in at this point are family members we were notified to expect and staff. Staff have shown up in enough numbers to cover the weekend, so we are going to be ok. There are easily 100+ family members of staff and 100+ family members of patients in the hospital in addition to the staff.

Everyone will miss their beds at home, but there are plenty of places to sleep tonight, though not everyone will be able to sleep on a mattress or cot. I expect to hear grumbling at bedtime as the cots and mattresses run out, but there's not anything we can do.

We got an order of Ozarka water this morning - lots of it - so water will not be a problem. Seems to be plenty of food, so if we don't run out of coffee, I will survive!

Seems awfully strange to have been busting it under our disaster code for the last 48 hours and we still don't have any sign of the disaster! Was joking with Mom yesterday that a tornado would almost be easier to deal with from a disaster point of view. "It's coming, 'everyone duck', it's over let's assess the damage." All this sitting around waiting is enough to make you go crazy independent of the storm we're about to face.

Finally, there are two distinct subgroups starting to develop among our visitors. There are the ones volunteering to help, and there are the ones complaining about their choices for a free lunch!

We are full of patients, but what we are all going to need more of is patience!

Two personal notes if you will permit: Blair, please feed the spider while I am here this weekend; and Sheila please check your email for a weird-good message.