An Evening on the Coastline

It's the time of year that I always question our choice to live on the Gulf Coast. We become anxious, keeping one eye on the television as we go about our daily activities, never quite trusting weather predictions, wanting to see the evidence for ourselves.
As the crow flies, or a seagull, since we are so close, we are about 3 miles from the gulf. It's highly doubtful we'll ever see a storm surge reach our house. Our damage comes from winds, as it did when Ivan came ashore just 4 short years ago.
Our home is nestled amongst 12 century oaks. I remind myself that they have withstood many hurricanes. But I remember too well one we lost during Hurricane Opal, and how Ivan took some big arms off a few others.
This time we'll just see tropical storm weather. For those of you who have never experienced a tropical storm, think of a strong thunderstorm lasting several hours. But tho they are predicting that Gustav is going west, we still keep our eyes on the storm updates, careful the storm to stall or jig our way.
But mostly we go about our business. We still grilled BBQ ribs today, with potato salad and corn slaw. I did a few loads of laundry, played in the scraproom and took a nap. In some ways it's just like any other day, with a sense of carefulness.

:J