Thanks to everyone who wrote and called expressing concern that Hurricane Earl might affect us here in Raleigh, NC. Turns out the big guy blew past us and didn’t really faze us in the least. We’ve dealt with some biggies over the years, but thankfully this one didn’t cause any harm, at least not for us. (In fact, we spent the Labor Day weekend at Lake Gaston north of here, and we didn’t see a single drop of rain or wind to ruin our fun.)