RI is now in a state of emergency; a hurricane warning is up; and the local TV is doing round the clock coverage. All low lying, Class A evacuation zones now have mandatory evacuation orders, so folks are packing up and relocating. Three areas must be vacated by 5 PM today, the rest by 10 AM Sunday.

Class A is for Tropical Storms and Cat 1 hurricanes.
Class B is for hurricanes Cat 2 or higher.

Several nursing homes are now doing scheduled evacuations, well in advance of the storm.

I am not in an evac area.

Outdoors is so bare, it looks like winter, lol. Everyone has put away all the outdoor furniture.

We will be on the right side of the storm, high winds, and rain of 5 to 10 inches on Sunday. (Left side of the storm gets more rain, less wind). We can expect gusts up to 80 MPH, and steady winds over 60 MPH.

Last night I walked Marlin about 9:30, the sky was so clear! This morning we have heavy cloud cover and it is slowly getting denser. We are definitely in "the calm before the storm," not a leaf is twitching, all the birds are silent except for 3 raucous crows.