Earl is coming to town...or is he?

Hurricane Earl is the talk of the town these days. Will he stay out in the Atlantic or will he come close enough to cause a little ruckus around here?  Only time will tell I suppose. They say if it happens it will be this weekend and that from North Carolina all the way up to Maine people should take the proper precautions. So the folks of Virginia Beach are preparing for him nonetheless. Pierce is out in the backyard filling the water barrels right now. I made a trip to the store today and bought a couple food items and some water bottles (the shelf was already half empty). I filled up my car with gas but darn it, I forgot to take the gas cans with me so I'll need to go back and fill those up to fuel our generator if the need arises. Last year when the big nor'easter storm hit my friend was without power for 3 days. I'm getting lots of laundry done and basically preparing to be out of power, even though it may never happen. EVMS is below sea level so they have major chance of flooding in the occasion of heavy rains. I need to check Ryan's emergency car kit to see what it is lacking and we need to have a family discussion of where we would go meet if we had to evacuate. I also need to go dig out our 72-hour kits out of the "rubble" in the garage, find the emergency radio, and make sure I can find our candles, lanterns, and flashlights. Although, I am really doubting I will be able to find a flashlight. Christian has been taking them all apart for his little electrical experiments. Lots to do to get this place in order. Kind of exciting. Kind of not. The kids are worried one of the big trees in the yard is going to fall on our house. Christian is the most concerned. I told the kids that a tree has already fallen on our house before (with the previous owners) so what are the chances of it happening twice, right? So bring it on Earl! We're just about ready for you baby!

I walked in the family room to find the empty firewood basket full of twigs and things Christian had collected around the yard. He has gone the extra mile to make sure we are prepared! He is so cute that way.