TheBanyanTree: Eye On The Storm

[NancyIee at aol.com]

Used to be:  A person would ride around Minneapolis, see people jogging 
around the lake (any lake, Minneapolis has several), park just off River Road and 
watch barges go through the locks on the Mississippi, wind through the 
tangletown of posh homes with stained glass and turrets, or get off the trail, get 
lost, and see houses boarded up. You always knew what part of town you were in 
when there were houses boarded up.

In Florida these days, EVERY part of town has houses boarded up. The 
hurricane is coming, you see. Mansions like three-story wedding cakes, mobile homes 
with the awnings pulled down tight, developments where the houses all look 
alike, right down to the plywood over the windows. They give away sandbags, and 
people line up around the block to get some, even if they haven't the slightest 
idea of where best to put them. One woman I heard of put them, and stacks of 
her books, on the floors of her house to keep her furniture up in case of 
flooding.

Ivan, the latest menace, appears to be missing the greater part of Florida's 
Gulf coast, but it looks like the panhandle to New Orleans are in the 
hurricane's sights.

There is a strange mix of apprehension and boredom with this, the third 
hurricane to hit Florida. How many times can a family uproot and evacuate? How many 
times can someone stand in line for batteries, water, plywood, or in  the 
traffic line to get out of town?

And, where does one go?  I talked to my sister, Beth, and she said, "come 
here if it gets bad."  I say the same to her. But, with Charley and Frances, we 
BOTH got hit, her in Orlando, me on the Gulf coast. Go figure.

Where do we go to escape Ivan, north? How about Biloxi or New Orleans?  
Wrong.  Latest guesstimate has it going there.

(sigh)  I wonder where I can get another tank of propane. If Ivan gets here, 
we'll be out of power a few more days.

Be safe, oh those in the path of Ivan . .and Jeanne who may be next.

NancyLee