Joaquin lurking? How to rescue your washed-out weekend plans

With South Carolina facing a super soaking, there’s only one thing to do: Hunker down for 48 hours indoors. So what can you do to stave off boredom and drown out the sounds of Joaquin turning your street into a stream? Glad you asked. Here are some suggestions for weathering the storm:

FOOTBALL GAMES

There’s enough pigskin flying around to keep you squealing till the wind and rain die down. Here’s a quick guide to the best (Southern) matchups:

Noon South Carolina at Missouri, SEC Network

3:30 p.m. Alabama at Georgia, CBS

3:30 p.m. Texas Tech at Baylor, ABC

7 p.m. Mississippi at Florida, ESPN

7:30 p.m. Mississippi State at Texas A&M, SEC Network

8 p.m. Notre Dame at Clemson, ABC

NEW ON NETFLIX

At the beginning of each month, Netflix releases a slew of movies and television seasons for your streaming pleasure. This weekend, you’ve got more than a dozen in each category. .

“Barefoot Contessa: Back to Basics Collection” (Collection 1), “Design on a Dime Collection” (Collection 1), “Extreme Homes Collection” (Collection 1), “Fixer Upper” (Season 1), “Genevieve’s Renovation” (Season 1), “The Great Food Truck Race Collection” (Collection 1), “House Hunters Renovation Collection” (Collection 1), “Million Dollar Rooms Collection” (Collection 1), “Monkey Thieves” (Seasons 1–3), “Property Virgins Collection” (Collection 1), “Throwdown With Bobby Flay Collection” (Collection 1), “Uncle Grandpa” (Season 1) (more episodes), “Vanilla Ice Project” (Seasons 1-4), “Wakfu” (Season 1), “Worst Cooks in America Collection” (Collection 1), “Reign” (Season 2) and “The Vampire Diaries” (Season 6)

“About Alex” (2014), “Alexander: Theatrical Cut” (2004), “American Pie” (1999), “Batman Begins” (2005), “Boogie Nights” (1997), “The Bourne Supremacy” (2004), “A Christmas Carol” (1938), “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” (2005), “Curse of Chucky” (2013), “Dark Was the Night” (2014), “The Devil at 4 O’Clock” (1961), “El Tiempo Entre Costuras” (2013), “Glass Chin” (2014), “Million Dollar Baby” (2004), “The Navy SEALs: Their Untold Story” (2014), “The Nightmare” (2015), “On the Town” (1949), “Pal Joey” (1957), “Pepe” (1960), “Pressure” (2015), “Reasonable Doubt” (2014), “Richard Pryor: Icon” (2014), “Robin Williams Remembered – A Pioneers of Television Special” (2014), “Some Came Running” (1958), “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” (1949), “White Rabbit” (2013), “Wild Horses” (2015), “Anjelah Johnson: Not Fancy” (2015), “La Leyenda de la Nahuala” (2007) and “Alpha and Omega 5: Family Vacation” (2015)

AT THE MOVIES

Plenty of movies are playing at a theater near you. Here’s a sample:

“The Martian” (PG-13): Matt Damon is an astronaut stranded on Mars, and Kristen Wiig, Jessica Chastain and Chiwetel Ejiofor are among the NASA employees trying to get him home safely in director Ridley Scott’s thrilling adaptation of Andy Weir’s best-selling novel. Playing at Regal Columbiana Grande Stadium 14, AMC Dutch Square 14, Regal Pastime Pavilion 8, Regal Columbia Cinema 7 and Regal Sandhill Stadium 16.

“Sicario” (R): Director Denis (“Prisoners”) Villeneuve’s provocative look at the moral consequences of the war on drugs centers on an FBI agent (Emily Blunt) assigned to assist a CIA operative (Josh Brolin) and his lawyer consultant (Benicio Del Toro) in a raid against a powerful crime lord based in Juarez, Mexico. Playing at Regal Columbiana Grande Stadium 14, AMC Dutch Square 14, Regal Pastime Pavilion 8, Regal Columbia Cinema 7 and Regal Sandhill Stadium 16.

“Sleeping with Other People” (R): A hopeless womanizer (Jason Sudeikis) meets his soul mate in the form of a habitual cheater (Alison Brie). Playing at Regal Columbiana Grande Stadium 14.

“The Second Mother” (R): Val, a hard-working live-in housekeeper in modern day Sao Paulo, Brazil, is perfectly content to take care of every one of her wealthy employers’ needs. But when Val’s estranged daughter shows up, the unspoken but intrinsic class barriers that exist within the home are thrown into disarray. Playing at Nickelodeon.

“Meru” (R): In the high-stakes pursuit of big-wall climbing, the Shark’s Fin on Mount Meru might be the ultimate prize. In October 2008, renowned Alpinists Conrad Anker, Jimmy Chin and Renan Ozturk arrived in India to tackle Meru. Despite making it to within 100 meters of the elusive summit, their journey, like everyone before them, was not a successful one. Playing at Nickelodeon.

CANCELLATIONS COVERED: ITALIAN FESTIVAL, BOCCE TOURNAMENT AND JERRYFEST

The weekend’s events have turned into a major washout. The Italian Festival and Bocce Tournament has been canceled and JerryFest has been rescheduled. But you can bring festivities indoors. Here’s how to stave off cabin fever with a little mind-over-weather planning.

First, check out what you have in your fridge … any leftover meats? A cup of ham or chicken or hamburger, even shrimp, can be sauteed in a pan with a tablespoon of olive oil or butter. Or, fry up some bacon.

Add in some vegetables … a couple of carrots, a handful of mushrooms, a couple of cloves of garlic or chop a small onion. Check the freezer for frozen peas or broccoli and cauliflower. Get creative … there are no rules. If you have some fresh tomatoes, add a couple of chopped tomatoes to the pan or use a can of tomato sauce. Let everything simmer until the vegetables are just tender. Serve over pasta or rice.

At a minimum, you’ll need four balls (six is normal, but hey, we have to improvise in a storm). Raid your kid’s toy box, wrestle some tennis balls from your pup or grab some golf balls. Now you need a target … dig a quarter out of your pocket … and a floorspace about 3-feet wide by 8-feet long.

Standing at one end of the space, toss the coin toward the other end. Now, decide who tosses the ball first, aiming at the target. First person tosses, then second person, alternate and play (kinda) nice. Whoever gets closest to the target wins and, yes, bumping the opponent’s ball out of the way with your toss is allowed.

We can all say that we were looking forward to jamming out in Five Points to some of the best covers of Jerry Garcia and the Grateful Dead songs Midlands bands had to offer. So if you can’t wait for the rescheduled event on Oct. 25, layer on your best tie-dye, fire up your laptop and plug in some external speakers to take in one of their live shows on YouTube like this full concert played on Dec. 28, 1983 at San Francisco’s Civic Auditorium: www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_Yf0VHLzr8.

STREAMING CHURCH SERVICES

If the predictions are true then the rain coming our way is, in short, of almost biblical proportions. So even if you can’t make it to a church service you can still attend in spirit online.

Bible Way Church: http://bwcar.org/

First Baptist Church: http://www.firstbaptistcolumbia.com/; TV broadcast Sunday at 11 a.m. on WLTX.

Eastminster Presbyterian: http://eastminsterpres.org/

First Presbyterian: http://www.firstprescolumbia.org/live-broadcast

This story was originally published October 2, 2015 at 9:14 AM.