Bees swarming on the last 80 degree day of the year

People in Baltimore the past few days are a little bit like the bees that were swarming and swerving last week on the last warm day of fall. The sun was blasting, the bees and wasps and hornets were flying in circles, bloated, bumping into car windows and people. That hot sunny weather made humans disoriented as well. Now it appears that something large and unseemly is going to take over our existence for the next few days. Stormy McStorm. We have had ample notice to prepare:

• extra water
• permafrost the frozen stuff in freezer
• bags of water turned to ice
• get the little pumpkins and other possibly flying debris off the porch
• vacuum the house
• do as much laundry as possible
• batteries and flashlights
• charge batteries and laptop
• whiskey and beer (though, sadly, husband and I can barely drink these days, still, its presence is comforting somehow, just in case…)
• toilet paper

I am supposed to start a mandatory two day orientation for my new job, this Monday and Tuesday. Then into the office Wednesday. I wonder how mandatory a mandatory orientation really is if there are houses flying around outside during the early morning travel times.

I suspect we will be living primitively over the next few days. Maybe with the cats in a pitch-black basement. Those storm clouds are mighty big.