Well, well, well, here we are, AUGUST. That means summer vacation, for some reason, so Val and I made plans to go back to Ocracoke Island (http://www.ocracokevillage.com/). Then there was MY hurricane last week, and the island got flooded. We're hoping that things are back in order by next Wednesday, when we're scheduled to head for the coast.

The water rose 3 feet in 30 minutes, according to some reports, and the level was 9" over the Hurricane Isabel level. Most of the island has been built (or rebuilt) for this kind of thing, but the tourist season is in full swing, and there are between 4,000 and 6,000 tourists being evacuated as I write this. There is a lot of debris, and the flooding causes wood, propane tanks, ice machines, cars and boats, among other things, to float around. If the tourists get out of the way, county officials say, residents and the disaster relief folks can take care of things. We hope so, the latest reports say return to the island may be possible by early next week.

Whatever happens next week, this weekend is supposed to be PERFECT summer weather. highs around 80?, overnight lows in the 60s. Good motorcyclin' weather, no rain for once. We've had about a month of hot mornings with rainy afternoons. ANY weather is bad if it's the same for a month. Or at least boring.

We're having our first houseguest this weekend, not counting my dad sleeping on the couch after her helped us move to Carrboro. Naomi, who went to UNC and lived in Carrboro is coming for a wedding this weekend. We kind of knew her when we all lived in Minneapolis, but when she lived here we all hung out and even vacationed together in Charleston. We're happy to be able to host visitors in our small apartment (hint, hint).

I heard that 3 banks were robbed in Davenport, IA while BOTH Bush and Kerry were campaigning there. Suspicions are that more than one person or persons had the bright idea that the authorities might be kind of busy and not able to respond to something as trivial as a bank robbery, as they don't think all the robberies were performed by the same people. That's some thinking.

That's all folks...