We have had a lot of folks call tonight to check and see if we are okay,.  It is nice to have people around who actually care about us. However, please do not assume that our situation matches anything you heard on television.

Fortunately for us, Earl seems to be saving his best punches for Ocracoke, Hatteras Island, and the northern Outer Banks.  Even there I think they will be fine.

Earl sliding by us hasn't slowed local authorities who called for a mandatory evacuation of Bogue Banks.  For those who wanted to stay, they instituted a 7 or 8 PM curfew.

So far Earl has not treated us badly.  The slightly heavier band of rain that started a few minutes ago fizzled. Our winds are still in the 20 mph range.  According to the forecasts we should see our peak winds just before midnight.

If the winds get worse than the predicted 30 MPH speed, then I will post an update.  Otherwise I will be hitting the sack after the 11 PM news and weather.

It has been a busy day,  I have been over to Emerald Isle a couple of times to take pictures of surfers and waves.  I also picked up the sign at my only Emerald Isle listing.  I didn't want it to turn into flying debris.

Later in the afternoon I drove down to the Point to see if I could encourage Earl to suck a little of the sand out the Inlet.  On the way back I checked on a friends house, and managed to see a small herd of deer wandering around in the appropriately named Deerhorn Dunes subdivision.

After that I checked another sign on a listing in Cedar Point and at about ten minutes to five I parked myself at the visitor center along Highway 58 just before it hits the Cameron-Langston Bridge to Emerald Isle.

i wanted to watch them close the bridge.  There were at least two NC State Troopers and one Emerald Isle policemen.  At 5 PM exactly, they closed the lanes heading over to Emerald Isle.

I did notice that they were actually letting a few folks head back to the Island. 

In spite of the time I spent taking pictures of the Crystal Coast under siege from Earl, I did take the time to put us on a storm footing.

First I hauled my kayak inside.  Next of course was our skiff.  I have a way of securing it on our side pole lift and raising it above the normal water level.  My storm preparation for the skiff has worked well in the past. 

I also filled both vehicles with gasoline and got $100 in cash.  With a couple of quick trips over the last couple of days, I managed to pick up a few items that completed our meal planning for a few days. Today I did not even need a basket the last few groceries that we needed.  I got my wife some milk.  I brought home some bell peppers for our evening stir fry and some fresh strawberries for dessert.  That was all we needed.

We already had supplies of water, plenty of batteries, and a grill that is hooked to a large buried propane tank.  Our neighbor has a generator that he has promised to use to keep our refrigerator cool.  Just in case I bought about 50 pounds of ice on my way home this afternoon.  Later this evening I brought in a couple of pillows that have a tendency to blow into the yard.

Based on the wind forecast, I did not use bungee cords to secure the deck furniture.  I did close the garage doors early this evening. That was about it for our preparation for Earl.

I have watched the hurricane tracking sites closely so I feel like we made a good decision to stay.  I have not run into anyone who was planning on leaving.  That includes some Emerald Isle folks that I know.  We were prepared to leave this afternoon if Earl made a turn towards us.

Right at 11 PM, I walked out to our dock.  The water has dropped a few inches below our normal high tide level on the White Oak.   Our next high tide should be around 5 AM so we might get a little more water, but I would guess with Earl pulling away now, we should not have much of a problem with high water.  While the rain is steady, so far we have gotten less than 1/4 inch.

However, there was an impressive amount of water in Bogue Sound this afternoon.  I guess the wind was in the right direction to fill the sound.

So for now, I think things are fine on the Crystal Coast.  We are supposed to see the sun shining by 8 AM tomorrow morning;  I will try to take a run over to Emerald Isle when they open the bridge.

I am glad that four years ago we did not choose to live on Hatteras Island or somewhere along Highway 12.

It is nice that we dodged the bullet.  I hope others are as lucky.

I have posted pictures of surfers at the Bogue Inlet Pier and some random photos of Earl scenery at my Picasa Web Albums site.  A friend and I also went fishing the day before Earl.  We didn't catch very many fish, but we did enjoy some great scenery including some shrimp jumping backwards across our inlet at Bluewater Cove.

Update 6:45 AM Friday morning...

Our rainfall total from Earl was only 3/4 of inch.  No visible wind damage as far as I can tell in the early morning light.  Tide appears to be about normal and the wind has moved around to WNW.  Wind has also dropped to 10-15 MPH. 

The birds are chirping as it gets light.

I think we survived Earl.  Now the challenge is to get the yard mowed this morning before it gets to 90F.