Blown Away, Almost

I feel the storm, all wet and warm, not 10 miles away. Approaching my Mexican home.

[Note: formatting is being funky today. Sorry it all ran together.]

Okay, I don't really have a Mexican home, but I certainly did feel the storm last night. Plus, I really like that song. I know I shouldn't even comment on my storm experience given what those to the south dealt with, but it wasn't fun up this way either. Since I live in an old house in a neighborhood with LOTS of old trees, I was a bit nervous. The wind got pretty bad last night, but I only lost power twice. One of pieces of lattice I'd put on the porch for the jasmine to grow on got blown down, but I think I can salvage it.

On the bright side, the college doesn't officially open until 11:00 this morning. Since my two classes today start at 8:00 and 9:15, well you can figure out what that means. Thankfully they made the announcement last night before bedtime, so I knew I could stay up and monitor the storm without worrying about being here for an 8 o'clock. I suffered through a couple of power outages, but nothing worse. This morning, though, Dad called AT 6:55 to tell me that I didn't have to go in to work until 11:00. Thanks Dad! Really, I appreciated the thought, but COULDN'T YOU HAVE WAITED AN HOUR OR SO?

Anyway, my immediate area seemed to survive okay. There were lots of downed limbs and assorted floatsam around the neighborhood. Over in the older part there seemed to be a little more damage.

I was concerned about the stray cat that seems to have adopted me. He won't let me pet him, but he does seem to love my porch. I think he steals food from the cats next door, but evidently he likes to have his own living space. I figured the neighbors would move their cats inside, but little Rufus (or maybe Graham, to go with Emmylou) had nowhere to go. He wasn't on the porch when the weather started getting bad, but I knew he'd show up so I tried to build him a little sheltered area out there. I even moved one of my cat carriers out there, but I was pretty sure he wouldn't go in there. Anyway, I kept checking the porch and he was curled up in his little sheltered area most of the night. Hmm, I guess I think like a cat. He wasn't out there at 6:50 this morning, but I did see him before I left home. I'm trying to avoid officially taking him in (I've been told there's a 2 cat limit for straight guys), but I was glad to see he made it through the night.

So, I made it through the storm and I managed not to throw anything through the TV in frustration after watching the idiots on the Weather Channel for hours. I won't go into a rant about how idiotic they are -- especially Jim Cantore. C'mon, if you've ever watched TWC coverage of any storm you know how annoying he can be. In fact my boss, who has property on the Gulf, told me that there are certain places down there that he's afraid to go -- not because of the weather, but because of the disgruntled locals. Today, though, my biggest complaint is not with TWC but with CNN. Late last night I was watching reports from New Orleans. They were getting a report from a reporter in NO about the utter devastation she'd witnessed while on a boat tour of the 9th Ward. You could tell that the woman was about to break out in tears as she talked about the people stranded on their roofs. The water was rising and they were pleading with the police boats to help them, but something about the debris or the layout of the area prevented the boats from maneuvering into some of the areas. It was heart wrenching to hear her describe the scene. As they were playing the story and showing scenes from the area, though, do you know what caption they put at the bottom of the screen? I'm paraphrasing, but it was something like, "Stranded people plead for help, but police won't stop." And the media can't figure out why people dislike/distrust them!?

Okay, that's it from Decatur. Readers to the south or with families to the south, please let me know, when you get a moment, that all is okay.