I woke up this morning and checked the National Hurricane Center to see how Tropical Storm Bertha was doing and to see if there were any more storms brewing. To my surprise there was a tropical depression that had just formed off the coast of South Carolina. That depression is now Tropical Storm Cristobal and it is headed up the east coast towards our general vicinity. It is not likely that we will get much more than some wind and rain and maybe beach erosion but it did prompt me to see how well prepared we are in the event a major storm hit our area. I have a backpack of emergency supplies that I bought a couple of years ago which are probably still good. The backpack has emergency food, water, weather radio, flashlight, batteries and other assorted stuff. I also have a large box of MRE’s (meals ready to eat) that I also bought a couple of years ago. Along with a ton of water in plastic jugs in the garage I think we are in pretty good shape for any storm. The last storm of any significance that hit our area was Hurricane Isabel which did extensive damage in our area in 2003. We had evacuated to Teresa’s dad’s house in the western part of Virginia before Isabel hit and were fortunate to have gotten our electricity back soon after returning home. The house and yard, including our fence, were damaged but not extensively.

So I have my fingers crossed that 2008 will be like 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007 with no major storms impacting our area. But I feel we are prepared for the worse if it should come to that.