One thing about Tennessee that we've experienced that has never been a part of our lives before are hurricanes. Now, by the time they reach us they're nothing more than strong storm systems, but they reach us, nonetheless. I think it rained for almost a week, off and on, at the beginning of July when Hurricane Dennis struck. Now, with Katrina having hit this morning we are looking at it reaching us sometime early morning. Some reports say we could get as much as 4-5" of rain overnight. Winds are expected to be around 35-40 mph in the morning around rush hour, in the midst of the rain. It's not supposed to slow down until after noon.

We made the obligatory Wal-Mart bread & batteries run earlier, and filled up the van (a whopping $50, and it wasn't even completely empty!) while we could. They're predicting gas prices to rise at least 10 cents in the next few days due to the impact on oil production/refinement in the gulf region where Katrina drove through earlier today. I'll be working from home tomorrow, as well. All the schools around here have closed for tomorrow and I really don't feel like fighting 35 mph wind-driven rainy traffic on I-40. It's a mess on normal, dry days, as it is! Hopefully we can get a couple of decent photos in the morning once the sun sort-of comes up.

UPDATE: Well, I wound up waking early and coming to the office about a half hour before I usually do, to beat the traffic. The storm blew through west of us, so things didn't wind up being as bad as predicted. Had to dodge a few fallen branches on the way out & I think it has been raining straight since about 11pm last night, but that's the worst of it.