Preparing for Doom

Post by:
Teri Biebel @ http://snarkfestblog.blogspot.com/

We've got the candles burning and the house smells like a delicious blend of vanilla cupcake and beach sand. Sandy cupcakes. How appropriate for a 'Frankenstorm' headed our way. Someone I know referred to it as a S'noreaster'cane. Whatever you call it, it's big and apparently it's going to kill us all. The experts at the Weather Channel have never seen anything like it. Jim Cantore was pissed off at New York's Mayor Bloomberg for NOT evacuating lower Manhattan, and then when the Mayor DID change his mind and decide to evacuate lower Manhattan, Jim said "Tomorrow, if I were standing in this same spot in Battery Park I may well be up to my waist in water. But I won't be here in Battery Park." It was almost as if old Jim was pissed that he had to evacuate Battery Park. Irony? Thy name is Cantore.

 

We here in West Virginia have been getting all sorts of conflicting reports. We're going to get 3-6" of rain, we're going to get 50-60 mph gusts of wind, we're going to lose power, we're going to get a foot of snow, bunnies are going to fly out of orbit and make baby bunnies on our lawns. We don't know what to believe. So we did the obligatory emergency shop this afternoon. Milk? Check. Eggs? Check. Bread? Check. We'll have French Toast for the rest of the week. Hell I could sell French Toast to everyone around me and retire at 45. My point is, we got bottles of water and D batteries and all the other stuff we'll need for our emergency kit. But are we going to need it? The media has a way of scaring the bejeezus out of people. I have friends along the coast line who are literally terrified for their lives because of the media hype over this storm. And what scares the pee out of ME is that I don't know whether to be complacent or fearful this time around. Every major storm that comes around is prefaced by fire, brimstone and end of the world predictions. And the actual storm is usually nothing but a little wind, maybe a cool breeze and a spritz.

 

However, back in August there was a derecho that came through New Jersey like a freaking freight train that knocked out power and caused devastation the likes of which I have never seen in my home state. But nobody predicted it would be as horrific as it was. My mom was without power for 12 hours. Luckily 8 of those 12 hours were while she was asleep, and when she got up, she was unable to use her oxygen unit because it runs on electricity. The was no Jim Cantore telling us to put our heads between our legs and kiss our asses goodbye! Where was the fire and brimstone for that little windstorm? Zip. Zero. Zilch.

 

So here we are on the eve of destruction. Or a basket of new kitties. It could go either way. But what scares the snot out of me now is that one of these days, we are going to be hit with a storm so destructive that our lives will never be the same. And because the media has cried wolf so many times, will we be prepared?