Saturday, October 22, 2005

wilma-schwilma, la-di-da

If I don't have time to blog now, I never will. Wilma spins on the tip of Cancun poised to be picked up by the jet stream and slung at us like a slingshot tomorrow or Monday. Hey, okay. Let's get it over with. We're as ready as we'll ever be here in South Florida. Let's just go on and savor the new record we've now set with the nonthreatening Tropical Storm Alpha off Puerto Rico, having run out of alphabetical storm names for the first time in history.

This morning while I watched my neighbor across the street cover his windows with sheets of plywood, I mowed and trimmed my yard. That's a pretty stupid hurricane preparation, but it made me feel good. I like to have a tidy lawn before things get messy. It's a psych thing, like my wife's compulsion to clean and tidy up the house before we go on a trip so that we won't return to a messy house. But it's okay to live in. Some people take fine robes and slippers to motels with them so they won't be embarassed if there's a fire in the night and they have to step outside. Heaven forbid they'd be turned out clad only in their pajamas! And heaven forbid a hurricane would approach our property if it weren't properly mowed and trimmed. What sort of homeowners would we be!

As with several other storms this season, Barb's off again on Monday with school cancelled. I doubt my college classes will meet either; Wilma's due here late Monday. We've stocked up our supplies: the drinking water, the batteries, the flashlights and extra foods, the games to play if the power goes out, the backup power converter so I can shave with my Norelco from the car battery if I must, and charge the portable appliances like our cellphones. After twelve hurricanes here since June, we know the drill, and it's hard to get very pumped up for it yet again.

I think we're beginning to think of these dangers as a normal part of living here. not that unusual. As the Chambers of Commerce and Realty agents will insist, South Florida is really quite a pleasant place to live, after all--oh, except for that one little matter of the no-longer-so-occasional hurricanes which come through and try to destroy everything we have and kill us. Otherwise, it's quite nice. And pay no attention to that man behind the curtain.

2 comments:

Carol Anne said...

Actually, the way Florida shows up in the news in the other 49 states is that Florida has so many hurricanes that the powers-that-be really know how to handle things. There are good plans for evacuations and shelters, including for people with special medical needs, so in Florida, yeah, so what, it's just another hurricane. The only people in Florida who are out of luck are convicted sex offenders, who are no longer allowed in public shelters and who are therefore supposed to report to the county jail for shelter.

In the wake of Katrina and Rita, the image the national news media showed was of Louisiana totally unprepared and therefore devastated, contrasted with Florida with its excellent preparation.

Of course, the images portrayed in the news media may not be accurate depictions of the situation. But still, if I had to live somewhere that hurricanes happen, I'd rather be in Florida.

Carol Anne said...

Now that the hurricane has gone through, those of us out in blogland do hope you're OK. We're hoping that your silence is more a function of lack of electricity than anything else.