Well, it's a good thing that I have enjoyed our beautiful Bonita Springs sunsets lately.

Looks like it may be time to pay the price for living in paradise. Hurricane Ike is on his way with his girlfriend Josephine close behind.

Personally, I love storms and hurricanes... but I'm not stupid. They are saying Ike is a big boy and even though he is a ways out, we figured it was time to do the preparation drill again.

When we bought our house three years ago, we opted for accordion hurricane shutters as an extra. They were well worth the money even though we only had to use them once, and that was for Wilma, which hit 6 weeks after we moved in.

We felt a little like Church Lady doing her superior dance when all the other homeowners struggled with large sharp metal panels! Why more people didn't pay for the accordions is beyond me.

Anyway, they haven't really been used in three years and we made the mistake of not opening them up and cleaning out the nooks and crannies as part of regular maintenance.

It's amazing the crevices that Florida insects, spiders and frogs etc can get into. And the crap that they leave behind. Yuk!

We just spent the last couple hours cleaning out "who knows what" from the bolt locks on all our shutters, so that they will be in working order for Mr. Ike.

Ike is on track to hit Tuesday night or Wednesday. It's still early and he may miss us. I hope so. We have a flight scheduled for next Thursday and I don't want to change it.

It's still a small price to pay, but say a prayer for all of us in his path.

Anyone else getting geared up for Ike?

And don't forget your pets! If you have to evacuate, PLEASE take them with you. If you are "hunkerin" have plenty of food and water and necessary medicines on hand.