It’s Veterans Day — the day we honor those who’ve served in the U.S. military, especially those who lost their lives protecting our country.

So express your thanks in any way you can. But if you have an American flag hanging outside your house, it might be a good idea to take it down — at least for today.

Because… 2020. This curséd year had to find something else to throw at us, so Tropical Storm Eta has now been upgraded to Hurricane Eta, and after a circuitous journey around the Gulf it’s headed right. toward. us.

Doesn’t look like too scary just yet — it’s a Category 1 storm, no mandatory evacuations have been announced, and it’s moving fast enough so that it may strike us only a glancing blow before losing power over land.

BUT. This has been a very hard storm to predict — the turn into Tampa Bay, for instance, is something of a surprise — and TV meteorologists are warning of the possibility of storm surge and tornado action as we move into late afternoon and evening.

So… take in that patio furniture and any other outdoor objects that could turn into missiles in a strong enough wind — including, alas, that flag — and, as most of us have been doing since oh, about March, hunker down.