No Big Macs today/ Photos by Art Hall.

Volunteers Michael and Patricia Vallone at Cape Regional Medical Center

Plants at Garden Greenhouse reclining on the job.

Forget gas at Wawa in Ocean View

Ocean View US Gas is still pumping.

Nothing happening in Sea Isle City.

A clever merchant from Sea Isle City.

No tolls but just in case.

Sandbags at door in Avalon

"No pancakes for Irene."

Stone Harbor shop expecting waves.

Shopkeeper begs for mercy.

Crest Lighthouse, "Don't blow away."

Ken Merritt of SIC BLITZ's is open for business Saturday morning.

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Art and I, after some discussion, decided to ride out Irene's visit and stay in our home in Wildwood Crest. The heart of a newspaper man is to be near the story and the story is right in our front yard.

Yesterday we spent much of the day "hunkering down" or in other words bringing the outside in, and closing the outside out -- we hope! Our house is overflowing with the flowers of summer, the chairs, rockers and tables from the front porch. The last thing to dismantle was the swing; that only came down this morning after our early morning cup of coffee.

For those of you taking refuge away from the county: the weather here is muggy, drizzly and overcast. It seems like an ordinary, rainy summer day when we all look for entertainment inside. This followed a magnificent beach day yesterday -- but there were no bathers, only a few stalwarts checking out the scene of the action yet to come.

By 7:30 this morning we were off in our car to see what was going on in the rest of our county. Armed with two trusty cameras and two iPhones, we recorded a few of the sights of preparation as we drove.

Boarded up Wal-Mart makes such a contrast to its usually teeming entrance. The closed store was"host" to a parking lot full of cars left there as a refuge of higher ground. Route 9 was an open pathway for the few of us out, and along the way we saw a number of boarded-up houses and businesses. Most of them were dark, except for Acme, which was ablaze with cheery lights, balloons bobbing in the air, and merchandise temptingly displayed while locked tight as a drum.

Our community hospital, Cape Regional, was ready for any eventuality. How nice to see two volunteers, Michael and Patricia Vallone, manning their reception desk as usual, as if to say: Hurricanes may come, but we are staying put to help anyone who needs our care.

Nearby, the Donut Connection was open for those whose body fuel was running low and needed a coffee and pastry refill. They were one of a very few businesses we saw open. The Four Season diner in Rio Grande and Blitz's Market were also open for the people who did not leave. As for gas, we saw only the US Gas station in Ocean View. I was grateful that we had filled up on Wednesday before the threat was imminent.

Everything looked serene, if deserted and boarded up. When we got to Avalon the police asked us politely to leave, and in Stone Harbor there were police cars blocking the entrances. Evacuation was the watchword. That made me anxious to get back home before we might not be allowed on to our little island where we have lots of water, food and candles to endure whatever Irene brings us tonight and tomorrow.

I am signing off with the same admonition everyone has been giving us as we made our pre-storm tour, Be Safe!

Patricia Hall