July 10, 2005

Hurricane Dennis.

So Hurricane Dennis, the first major storm of the 2005 season, has hit land and is pounding where my dear friend lives in Florida. If you're the praying sort, please remember him. If not, hope or wish or something. The panhandle was not as unlucky as with 2004's Ivan, but reports are saying that they still got it pretty badly this time, too. While there are a few annoying things about the natural wonders of Southern Illinois, I didn't think hurricanes could affect us. I mean, we're often in line for the scattered tornado and severe storm and flood, so I hoped that hurricanes would not be something we'd have to worry about around here. I mean, these crazy bugs are enough to deal with in the summer, not to mention the man-eating spiders that live outside each of my doors, looming over my head like zig-zagging helicopters. While Dennis will downgrade himself to a tropical storm by the time it gets here, we're going to get dumped on. That sumbitch is going to stop here and rain on us for a few days and flood the rivers, etc. Carbondale is several miles from the nearest river, and I live on the second floor of my building. Anything that happens to Snowball II can be fixed, even him floating away and getting eaten by a new cougar in Shawnee. But I am at least moderately afraid for my fellow Carbondalies and Southern Illinoisans. We've been having a pretty serious drought, but this is a little bit...much. How do I know if my neighbors can swim? My CPR and First Aid certifications have been expired for a few years, so I can't really do anything officially. It's got me extremely frustrated, enough that I cussed at my brother today over an online game and burnt my broccoli for dinner. I don't burn veggies. I saute' some mean fresh greens, lemme tell ya. I think our prelims study group is effectively cancelled for today. At least one person is coming from the next town and doesn't feel safe being out and about, and I sure wouldn't want to have to try to study being afraid that I'd have to swim home, so I'm happy to stay home and work while the world ends. At least, that's how our weather-people are saying it's looking. :^) If you live in Carbondale and are scared of your first-floor apartment, look me up. My apartment is not very large, but we have 100 DVDs, a few pounds of coffee, terrific AC and at least 1000 books. We'll be fine here. Come on over.

2 comments:

lucidity said...

The footage from CNN is startling. Aluminum signs being torn in half, and flying through streets. I mean, that's a prime example of the wind's power.

It's was still a cat. 3 when it was moving over the land, thats still enough strength to knock over power lines.

Hopefully casulties are at a bare minimal. Events like this affect us all.

Anonymous said...

no shit stasyna