The phone rang at 10:30PM. The caller-id number was 999-999-9999. That’s a new one, better answer that. So began my first experience with a reverse 911 call. My husband picked up the phone and then turned on the speaker in time for me to hear – “at this time there is no need for further evacuation but we urge people in the area to prepare for the possibility.” A brush fire has come close.

One thing I’ve found about moving to Florida is that it puts you into real contact with nature. Back when I lived in northern Virginia (basically Washington D.C.) I had the opportunity to visit Kansas. I was talking to a person there about tornados and why exactly one would live in Kansas and he said “I guess every area of the country has its weather issues, what do you have in D.C?” Uhmmm, traffic? Seriously, traffic is really bad in D.C. and every once in a while we would get a snowstorm that would paralyze the city for a few days and cause people with bald tires to think they had 4-wheel drive, but for the most part, weather isn’t really all that noticeable there.

But it is noticeable here. Today, Barry the tropical storm has come to visit. The fires are out.