Depending on your locale, you can experience the threat of brush fire, flash flood, tornado, hurricane, lightning strike, or in my case, all of the above. Last night we had significant thunder storm during a cold-frontal passage, and we got hit with 4" of rain in 40 minutes, lots of lightning, and high winds. As the rain began to let up, I opened the rear door just a crack to count horse heads, and I smelled ozone and smoke. At that very moment, our phone rang. It was my daughter saying that one of her facebook buds had just typed that his neighbor's house was on fire. The problem is, this facebook bud is the kid we lived next to in our first Florida house 9 years ago, which is about 1/2" mile from our current home. I hopped in the truck and stayed on the easement road so as not to get close at all. By the time I got within visual range, the second floor was gone and the firemen were just letting it go down by itself as there was nothing to save. We all stood across the street in my old neighbors driveway, and they told me that from the time the lightning struck to when I got there was 15 minutes, tops.

So.....go do your personal inventories, do a video walk around, check your homeowner's policy, etc, do all of the things that we tell each other to do, and get ready for the time you actually need it, and let's hope you never do. I know it isn't my house, but it used to be, so it did make me feel a bit melancholy. The family was not home at the time, but the neighbors moved their only pet, an outside dog, to their house, and rolled the spare car out of the garage, so no one was injured, and no animals hurt. Get those inventories completed, including tractors, expensive tools, etc. I did a walk around with the video camera, along with a bit of running narrative just briefly describing significant points about a tool, tractor, computer, closet, etc. that might make it more special and more valuable. Those who have replacement value policies, that could make a difference. I burned a half dozen dvd's, gave one to each kid, put one in the barn, one in the house (in case it's the barn that goes down), and gave one to my insurance agent. Anyway, for what it's worth.