Mother Nature

...is one tough mother! In the two years that we have lived in the Florida panhandle we have witnessed countless storms. Having lived all my life in the Northwest, I thought I knew storms and rain but believe me, I was wrong. You haven't truly seen a thunder storm until you've lived in Hurricane Country. Okaloosa County is one of the top places in the US for lightning strikes and both Duane and our house have been hit since we have lived here. Luckily, neither hit was too serious but it was enough to remind us of the awesome power of mother nature. Tonight, we are prepping for what might be the biggest show of power we have seen to date. We have managed to avoid any hurricanes while living here but Gustav is on his way and the panhandle is oddly quiet as everyone settles in to await his arrival. The past few days have been filled with warnings and storm tracker alerts. We have gassed our vehicles and beat the shortage - many stations are now out of gas. We have made extra ice to put in the deep freeze in case we lose power. We have stocked batteries and lanterns and flashlights, water and canned spaghettios. We covered our computers and classrooms in plastic on Friday afternoon. We have double checked our alert rosters for the battalion families and reviewed the procedures for hurricane evacuation and tropical storm safety procedures. We are as ready as we can be.

This afternoon, the activity seemed to slow as the sky darkened and people realized that they had done all they could. The local channels have gone to continuous storm reporting - updating the weather and the local warnings as well as giving directions to shelters in outlying states for the areas of Alabama that are being evacuated. We are now officially under a Hurricane Warning with an additional warning of storm surges causing waves in excess of 6 feet. It is thought that Gustav will touch down within 24 hours and luckily, it appears that the panhandle will avoid the worst of it. It seems that we will most likely just get storm surges with high winds, high water, and possible flooding or loss of power. We feel pretty safe out here on Camp - we are further away from the Gulf than the town is. For once, living in the middle of nowhere seems to be paying off. Duane is on his way home from Ft. Benning and I am crossing my fingers that the weather will hold off enough for him to make it home tonight. In any case, I am going to shut the computer down once it starts to storm and keep my fingers crossed that at worst, we will be watching a phenomenal show by flashlight with a cold can of spaghettios. :) Keep all those on the Gulf in your thoughts and prayers as many are evacuating for a second time, preparing for the possibility of losing it all again. It certainly puts life into perspective and reminds us of the incredible power of the creation in which we live.......