Current Events

The girls started school today. A lot of the public schools started last week. That’s just crazy! On the flip side, students get a whole week off for Thanksgiving and they get Fat Monday, Fat Tuesday, and Ash Wednesday off. And they get out of school before Memorial Day. But still! First or second week of August!? That was always around the time I started thinking about getting those books for the summer reading program, or maybe cleaned out my closet or under my bed with a little parental coaching. Even I had to admit by mid-August: there are only so many days you can go swimming, eat Fudgesicles and Pop-Ice as a major food group, and watch TV in a wet bathing suit. Ahh, but it was great while it lasted!

Hurricane season started two and a half months ago, June 1st to be exact. It’ll go until November 30. We’ve been following along a little to this year’s season, but most of the action has been in the Pacific. You can follow along too with this handy-dandy gizmo to the right from http://www.wunderground.com/ .

We’re keeping our eyes on TD Two, which has just degenerated into an area of low pressure... TD’s have always been an exciting part of the imminent season, but that was for Touch Down--- not Tropical Depression. I remember last year, right about when we hit the letter “E” that I started associating hurricanes with all the other things going on in our lives. You follow these storms as long as they last, which could be a couple weeks. Hurricane Edouard, we were finalizing and mailing wedding invitations. Hurricane Fay took us all the way through the Olympics and a few nights of the GOP convention. Hurricane Gustav paved the way for our first official hurricane evacuation to Memphis and just in time for the Delta Blues Festival! (“Kiss my blue suede shoes, Gustav!”)

Gustav pushed back the closing on our house a week. No insurance company will issue policies on a new home when there’s a named storm in the Gulf of Mexico. Which makes sense, because, you know, it's nice to know the house will be there after the storm. And it was. Yeah! Hurricane Ike, we closed on the house, moved in, unpacked a little, and I was getting ready to leave for Chicago for the three week pre-nuptial planning. Hurricane Ike was my first experience of “hurricane track-change cheering.” Watching the news coverage from NOLA to Mobile, AL, you could see tangible relief on everyone when the Hurricane Hunters reported Ike would be veering west. Of course I was happy too- hey, we just bought a house! But I couldn’t help feeling a little guilty. After all, somebody’s gotta take the hit, and this time it was Galveston, TX. But nothing happens in a bubble.

This was the water that came in under the condo, where we were still living while getting the new place set up. The other image is of Gretchen in the "new" backyard, enjoying the unique water view, all thanks to Ike. Parts of Chicagoland were still dealing with flooding from the “remnants of Ike” by the time I arrived in September.

Well, this year, I wanted to get a head start, be on a first name basis by the time they rolled in (posted below). (Is that morbid?) “Yooo Hoo… is that Ida Hurricane?... You’da Hurricane!”

So far, no hurricane action in the Atlantic--- which is good. At the same time, I’m not ready for another season with Jim Cantore. He’s the jerk face for the Weather Channel’s hurricane coverage.

2009 Atlantic Hurricane Names
Ana

Bill

Claudette

Danny

Erika

Fred

Grace

Henri

Ida

Joaquin

Kate

Larry

Mindy

Nicholas

Odette

Peter

Rose

Sam

Teresa

Victor

Wanda

...what? No Zolanda? Booooo.