Can't think of a title.

We're all still definitely watching Chris--it's a long ways to Texas and a lot can happen, although the weather-guessers, with their charts and -therms and -bars seem reasonably confident.

And back in '65 Betsy wasn't supposed to double back and head south, then whip west across the tip of Florida then barrel up the Mississippi.

But it's still hot and dry--indicators of a high pressure area.

I finished up the current box of files at work today and started another. This new box had a hurricane plan written in 2002. It had almost no details--it just says things like "mandatory evacuation for catergoy 4 or 5." It didn't describe just how the students were supposed to evacuate. (Not all college students have cars.) It didn't say to where they should evacuate.

And this is what the biggest problem was with Katrina--no details about how to get out of town for those without cars. Or money. We were lucky to have a location available. Lots of others weren't. And then there was the no pets rule--if you wanted to get on one of the buses you had to kill your pets. I'm not going to use the nice word euthanize--even if they were put down with euthanol it was still killing perfectly healthy animals.

So we watch the track of the current storm. And cross fingers.

Talked with my money manager today--this year I have to start withdrawals from my IRA. I think we've decided how to handle it. This year I'll take the after-tax amount and put an amount equal to what I've earned into a Roth, then take the rest to replenish my readily available major-expense kitty. Or something like that. At this point I don't remember, but I'm sure Renee was taking notes. She absolutely loves what she does and she does it very well.

I don't think I like working my three days all in a row, but this week it couldn't be helped. Next week I'll be back to MWF.

August has no national or major religious, or "cultural" holidays in it. It's the only month that can claim that distinction, although in many areas there's a TGSS* day when you can hear a collective sigh at the start of school--a sigh of regret from the kids and a sigh of relief from at-home parents.

Whatever.

Well, let's hope that this year the storms will bypass this area.



*Thank Goodness School Starts.