Edouard

The frenzy is on.
News media preying on our sense of panic. Disaster planning committees deciding about emergency evacuations as we speak. Bottled water and batteries literally flying off shelves. Newscasters gripping signposts in the strong wind so as not to be blown away.
Yup, you guessed it--all the scuttlebutt is about el huracan. Actually, Edouard is simply a tropical storm but LET'S TRUMP IT UP AND MAKE EVERYONE FREAK OUT.
And, in some ways, we worry about the weather here on the Texas Gulf Coast for good reason. Not too many years ago a simple tropical depression called Allison left most of the city under water. Anyone remember that?
And we've had our share of scary scares and close calls. Katrina? Rita? anyone?
Perhaps my favorite part of the ridiculous rush to stock up on supplies in case of natural disaster is the sense of solidarity it creates.
Today at Kroger (yes, Monday is my regular grocery day and I went despite the storm-craziness) it was getting to be a madhouse. Mountains of bottled water towered between the aisles. Stockers frantically stocked chips and canned goods and whatnot. Shoppers pushed supply-laden carts like tanks up and down the aisles.
Of course, you get a good look at what "the necessities" are. Water. Batteries. Beer. (I'm always shocked at the last one, but that's what we made sure to have on hand when we stayed during Rita, so I guess it makes sense!)
I like that you can pretty much go up to anyone stocking up on "storm food" as one man put it in the produce section (do bananas strike you all as "storm food"?) and strike up a conversation. You get most of someone's life story. Or at least what they did during the last scare (Rita--most fled and were in traffic for 24+ hours and she passed us by), how much it cost them (A LOT), and how long they lost power (we never did; most of the city lost it for a day or so); and how hot it was (it's always hot, hurricane or not, so that's kind of negligible).
Anyway. .. my sympathies go out to anyone working at a grocery store today. And probably the home improvement stores, too. Fortunately, it doesn't look like there will be the three-hour lines for plywood (for boarding up windows) like in the past.
Personally, I'm just thrilled we'll get some rain and cloud cover to give the air conditioner a break. I find the 24-hour news coverage of the storm quite amusing. You never know what these guys will think of next. Seriously, I have seen one guy propping himself up on a lamppost to appear to be broadcasting in such high wind as to get him horizontal. Flip the channel and the other newscasters are struggling to keep their hats on, but that's about all.
Hurricane season. Good stuff. Like my mom says: "We didn't do all this preparing. We prayed the rosary and then cleaned up the branches once it was over."
Hopefully we won't have any big adventures over the next 24 hours. And not too many branches to pick up.