Something Wicked This Way Comes

Hurricane Dennis is making his way into the Gulf of Mexico. The projected paths take it well west of Central Florida but this area is still very shell shocked from last year. The news media, the co-worker and the stranger you see on the street go about their business with a palpable undercurrent of caution.

Last summer I was in New Orleans, of course, so I can't quite appreciate the experiences of the folks who survived the 3 storms that hit here in CF and their untrusting glances up into the cloudy sky. New Orleans had it's own brush with potential doom when Hurricane Ivan made a beeline for NOLA and caused the evauation of the entire city. I stayed put even though the house I was in was in a lower level area of the city (that's really low since the city is below sea level anyway) and less than a mile south of the shore of Lake Pontchartrain. The anticipation of the "worst case scenario" (massive flooding killing thousands) was far worse than the effects of the storm itself. In the end Ivan made an eastward bolt just before it greeted the southeast tip of Terrebone Parish and decided to skip the Big Easy and headed to Mobile instead. There was hardly a twig out of place in the sunshiny wake of that overpuffed pussy.

So after my experience I tend to lean to the side of the underestimator I guess. I'll be the one this season, continually saying: "Oh you're worrying about nothing. It won't do a thing!"

We'll see if my bold defiance will be met by a resounding bellow from above: "OH, REALLY??!!"