Hurricane Isabel is still heading straight for us. Considering that the storm had winds of 150mph last weekend, we're actually very fortunate that it didn't hit us sooner. It will just miss my mother in law in SC and for that I am grateful. She's a sweetheart and she lives alone. It will hit my brother in law and his family though. We're going to call and check on them.

By the time it hits us it will probably be downgraded to a tropical storm, but that still means damaging winds. The ground is already so saturated from all of the rain we've gotten (thank goddess, we no longer have a drought), all spring and summer that flooding is inevitable. That's seriously bad news for us because our basement has been flooding all summer and the rain has come so frequently that we haven't had a long enough period of dry weather in which to waterproof the basement walls and baseboards. We can't bring up everything from the basement office obviously, but I'm going to help Larry bring up his computer equipment if he's willing. We have no place to keep it but the kitchen so we'll have to keep Trent out of there until we see if we can take it back downstairs.

Yesterday Isabel was 900 miles away from the coast. It's now only 400 miles away. Over the last 24 hours it traveled 500 miles, which I didn't think was even possible.

The winds will probably knock out the power at least temporarily and since flooding affects the quality of drinking water people are being advised to stock up on bottled water.

Pennsylvania and most of New York will get hammered right along with us so everyone dig your heels in and stay away from your windows once the storm starts. The worst of it should be over by Friday afternoon.

Here are some other things people are being advised to do:

* Fill your car with gas (in case you have to run)

* Fill your prescriptions (at least two weeks worth)

* Stock up on batteries and flashlights

* Do NOT use candles (fire & rescue may not be able to respond to a fire right away)

* Get a phone that you can plug into the wall or keep your cellphone handy and make sure it is fully charged and has a spare battery pack (also pre-charged), before the storm hits.

* Even if the road is familiar to you, if there is water rushing over it do NOT try to cross it. A little water splashing on your engine will be enough to kill it (at least until it dries out), and if you try to cross on foot the chance of being swept away is extremely high. Rescue crews are going to be so busy that at this point they're telling people that if you get stuck somewhere because you did this, you're probably going to be on your own while they work to put out fires and rescue people who are trapped in their homes.

Dig in, everyone.