Do you have permission to waltz?

Image by sandrino via Flickr Tropical Storm Fay

I've done my hurricane prep, like a good li'l Floridian, so at this point I'm just keeping an eye on the storm. Landfall could be around Cedar Key, north of Tampa Bay, which would put the storm 60 miles west of me. That means we could still get high winds, heavy rain and the possibility of tornadoes.

I'm feeling pretty calm though, 'cause I just had my roof and skylight repaired, so barring a tree crashing into it (which happened during the hurricanes in '04), we should be in good shape. And I have my blue tarp, just in case.

The water, batteries, spare meds, gas grill, camp stove, land-line telephone, etc. are on hand. I have bread, canned goods and peanut butter. The upright freezer is packed with ice bags, so if we lose power everything should stay frozen for at least 48 hours. I have empty bleach bottles I can fill with tap water for washing. The one thing I didn't have last time which I swore I wouldn't do without again was coffee--I have a French press, but I grind fresh beans every morning. This time I'll have some ground coffee on hand. It's survival rations.

So we're not quite at the "hunker down" stage, but I feel ready.