Fearful that I’ll be trapped in the house with my family for the next four days, I took the opportunity to go wander around campus this morning to check out what’s happening in advance of the storm. We’re expecting the trouble will be mainly with water but you still have to be careful of the winds, which are already blowing from the east. Hence missile containment is the order of the day:

Those cute little black metal tables and chairs that have migrated all over campus seem to be a particular concern:

Here’s one sent by loyal reader Don Johnson from in front of Abercrombie:

I fully expect everything will be just fine. The Rice crisis management team did a fantastic job when Hurricane Ike came through in 2008 and that was much more of a direct hit. The only thing that gave me any pause was when I walked past the Cohen House visitors lot and saw that the credit card slots had been covered and the bars removed:

Forgoing parking revenue? Now that’s scary.

Keep your eyes open out there. And if you get an interesting photo, send it in.

Bonus: Here’s a little tidbit from Carla in September of 1961.

I’ve been eyeballing the Italian cypresses next to Rayzor Hall for a while now. If we get any kind of real wind, this might be curtains for a couple of them.