Musings on Hurricane Season.....

Naturally, being the loyal alum that I am, I have "liked" FSU on Facebook.  Today, there was a posting about someone asking if the University was doing anything (like shutting down) because of Hurricane Irene.  (At the moment, no...Irene is threatening the East Coast and the track of the Hurricane isn't likely to come near Tally.... which is 3+ hours away from the East Coast of Fla.)

Now, the first thing I want to say is:  If the Authorities are telling you to get out of Dodge....GET OUT OF DODGE.  Load up what you can and get out.  There's not a thing in your house that is worth risking your neck over....and I'd sure rather help you re-build than have to come to your funeral.

Now, having said that, let me tell you about the time Hurricane Kate came through Tallahassee.  It was the Fall of '85,  the Friday before Thanksgiving.  My room-mates (Kim, Carol and Meryl) and I, plus Meryl's boyfriend, Steve, were all over at our house.  We were busy getting all the hanging plants taken down and making sure we had enough nonperishable food and water before the storm hit.  We were actually pretty lucky, because Kate was only a Cat 1 Hurricane and she was going to have to travel overland for about an hour before she'd hit Tally.... but still, you don't mess around with Hurricanes (unless they come in tall, frosty glasses....and even then, you gotta be careful!).

We had just gotten all the plants down and in the house (high winds--we didn't want to risk them flying around, ya know?) when Kim and I looked out and realized.... there were more plants hanging from the tree in the front yard.  So, with the winds starting to pick up, the two of us hurried back out to get the 4 or 5 plants still hanging.  Just as we got up to the porch (and almost in the house), the wind tore a branch off the tree and smacked me across the back of the head.  Good thing I'm such a hard head, because it could've hurt pretty bad.  I was able to hop in the shower to get the debris out of my hair.

We lost power about then, but we had flashlights, batteries and candles.  We had a radio going, but soon we lost most of the radio stations.  I don't remember which station we were listening to, but in between the news bulletins and weather updates, they played only one song.  Starship's (I think they had dropped the Jefferson by this point) "We Built This City."  By dawn, I came to loathe that song.  I still can't listen to it without wanting to smash something.  Even thinking about it makes me ill.

We heard several tornadoes and scampered into the hallway, just in case.  Again, we were lucky.  We figured that there must've been about 4 tornadoes that ripped around our street, but even with all the trees around us, none of them fell on our house.

But, mostly I remember the fun we had.  Sure, there was an element of danger, and there was no power, but there were 5 of us sharing the experience.  We played flashlight games with the guys across the street, and cards in the house (probably either Shanghai or Uno), ate and drank whatever we could find in the kitchen, dragged mattresses out to the living room and generally behaved like 20-something year olds generally do.

The other thing I remember is thinking that Meryl had found her special guy.

I don't think we even got a day off from classes, because Kate hit on a Friday and by Monday, roads were cleared enough for classes to be held.  Man....

Just a few safety tips about hurricanes, tornado and floods.
Rules for playing Shanghai.
If you're more interested in the facts about Hurricane Kate in Tallahassee, google "hurricane Kate tallahassee"  Photo slide shows, articles, stuff like that....
Interested in Hurricane Irene?  If you're reading this near the date this was written, you can go to the Weather Channel.  If you're reading this months or even years later, just google "hurricane Irene 2011."  I'm sure there'll be pages and pages of stuff....
And for my college age friends who are away from home for the first time...make sure you know how your university will let you know about emergencies.....

Stay safe and be aMused....