First Day of 2010 Atlantic Hurricane Season

Today marks the first day of hurricane season and long-range forecasters are predicting a very active season of tropical storms.

We awoke to a thunder storm and local street flooding. Some water seeped under our garage door, a reminder of December 17, 2009 when 6 inches of water collected in our garage. Like most folks, we store stuff in our garage. Not just automobiles, garden tools and sports equipment, we store old files, research papers, high school and college year books, photographs and newspaper clippings in our garage. Naturally, we had those heavy papers on the bottom shelves, stabilizing our storage units, and yes, they got soaked and had to be tossed out. We scanned and digitized several particularly sentimental items that we were able to dry out before they got moldy but many things were lost.

Everything on the floor and on the lowest shelves of the storage units in our garage are stored in covered, plastic bins now. We'll be fine . . . as long as 12 inches of water doesn't collect in our garage. At that point, there won't be time for preserving old memories. We'll be more concerned about being safe, moving our washer and dryer to a higher place inside the house, and trying to stop any water from seeping into our home.

It's time to find and create electronic files of those other old photos.