Before Ike (No, it's not a Tina Turner biography!)

(Look at the clear blue sky.)

Well, it's Friday morning. All is calm. Some of our neighbors are still boarding up their windows. We don't expect to have any flooding here, but we'll have to deal with some wind. We were told on the news that our area should "shelter in place" and leave the roadways clear for those people who are under mandatory evacuation.

Yesterday we saw the flow of traffic go by our neighborhood as people left the coastal areas. Late in the day, after working outside in the heat to secure the outside of our house, my husband said he felt like a beer. I told him I'd venture out to see what I could scare up. Traffic was back to normal by then.

I went to the nearest convenience store and found it still pretty well stocked. The line was long, and I noticed that just about everybody was buying beer! A woman in front of me had so much that a man behind me offered to help her carry it to the register. Everyone was friendly. She said to me, "well, might as well start drinking now!" Everyone within earshot nodded in agreement.

What can I say? We've done everything we can and we honestly expect to come through this just fine. The beach houses we were looking at to buy are another story! I worry for those people, but the only thing they should lose is "stuff". They should all be out of there and somewhere safe by now.

We expect to lose power, so don't look for a new blog entry right away. I'll check back in as soon as I can.