We ready ourselves for the remnants of Hurricane Katrina, which devastated parts of the Gulf Coast but should bring little more than some heavy rain to Southwestern Virginia this afternoon.

Like others who have friends and relatives in Katrina’s path, we held our breath and crossed our fingers Monday. Our friends in New Orleans reported flooding but no injuries. On the radar screen, it looked like Katrinia weakened slightly before landfall plus the eye and brunt of the storm shifted East at the last minute and appeared to spare the Big Easy from the full wrath of nature. But the levees broke and flooded 80 percent of the city, leaving hundreds of thousand homeless and an unknown number dead. I have friends in Gulfport too and haven’t heard from them.

When nature unleashes her fury there isn’t much you can do but hunker down or get the hell out of the way. Hurricanes, tornados, earthquakes and floods go where they want, do what they please and destroy whatever they can. There isn’t a damn thing we can do about it.

“Sometimes,” my granddaddy used to say, “the guy upstairs feels the need to remind us that he’s still boss.”

Point, set, match.