I Don’t Understand

Ok, I do, but I don’t like it

I really hate the media spotlight that has descended on the south, particularly the gulf coastal region, this hurricane season. For those of us that were born here and have lived here most of the past half century, looking at the sky to the south and wondering what kind of storm will blow in each August and September is just as normal as watching the leaves fall off the trees every October and November.

To hear the media tell it, none of us ignorant Rednecks have any idea what to expect and most portrayed on TV are caught standing around wide eyed wondering which way and where to run.

I beg to differ.

My mother’s brothers moved to Ft. Walton, Florida (not Ft. Walton Beach) in the early 1950’s to take employment as aircraft mechanics at Egland Air Force Base. Even without the resources provided by The Weather Channel and NOAA weather satellites, they knew from marine reports to pack up the kids and dogs and run back home to South Alabama before everything got wet or blown away.

My family got caught flat footed, un-prepared in 1975 when Hurricane Eloise took a right hand turn overnight and made landfall at Panama City Beach rather than in Mobile. My dad was out of town on business and I as a 15 year old was the “official chain saw operator in chief..” Since I didn’t have to buy the insurance and pay the deductible, I guess that I have to admit that I thought the whole episode was sorta cool.

How many of you have stood in your front yard and looked at clear blue sky THROUGH THE EYE of a category 2 hurricane?

I have.

The thing is, Hurricanes go with the territory, just like earthquakes and brush fires go with Southern California and freezing ass cold weather goes with Moosejaw, Alaska. My personal preference is to die from drowning or being hit by flying debris rather than loosing my toes to frostbite.

I don’t need some idiot with a camera and a microphone to tell you about my plight, either.