Surviving The Rain

Urgent Weather Update: It Rained As Predicted.

I'd much rather have walked Rusty than come in to work, but I dutifully left home early, before five and found an empty open highway, not a power line out of place, not a leaf in the roadway. I knew the power was good because the electric clock wasn't flashing in the living room, so despite text warnings from Keys Energy everything worked as it should. In these islands used to tropical weather that was no surprise.

I had time to spare so I drove down to the Bight and stepped out under an umbrella with my waterproof pocket camera. It was windy and the rain was slashing, trying to get under my umbrella as I walked out on the docks.

It did not look to me like the old hands in the harbor had taken the time to prepare for the storm as everything looked as it usually does, just a bit wetter. I dare say this afternoon one could even go for a fish as gentle southeast breezes are expected to return, under sunny skies. 

If you hang around people debating the value of surviving a catastrophe you'll find some that really like the warnings you get before a storm and others who prefer to be surprised as by an earthquake. I've lived through both and am decidedly in favor of the hurricane survival mode. Lots of warnings, and in our well built world (mostly) it's hard for anyone to die of hurricane related weather.

In the past hurricane warnings tended to get overblown but this year the city and county managed to be alert and keep control and not force evacuations where none were needed. It was windy and I struggled to control camera and umbrella at once but it wasn't   enough wind to knock over but one tree on Simonton Street, which is cleaned up already. I blame the umbrella for some fuzzy pictures here:

I wandered around for a few minutes surprised to see dinghies still in the water but there they were in the water getting rained on.  

I talked to a friend of mine who went through Hurricane Irma as well and when I remarked how much better this is he said he was getting PTSD from the category four that caused extensive damage in the Keys. 

Rain wind and unpleasantness leads me to ponder the people who don't keep their dogs indoors, people who don't have waterproof homes and people who do but don't believe in climate change. Maybe I overthink stuff but I was never as relieved as when we moved from home ownership to becoming renters. To leave the  Keys we give notice, lock the door and drive away.  If I never have to speak to a real estate agent again it will be too soon.

To some extent anyone who lived through Hurricane Irma has to have some PTSD after that breakdown of society. It's a humbling experience not to have running water  never mind no electricity Internet or fuel. For days. 

I have heard the suggestion, from a friend who needs to remain nameless for exhibiting excessive commonsense, that we not name storms until they are hurricanes and possibly Category Two storms. We live in a world of hype, fear and gullibility so I suppose any attempts to suggest to people they learn to manage with the information they can gather themselves is open to the charge of snobbery or some such. 

It was a rainy day in Key West and happily I could not keep the umbrella still to save my life. So I accidentally made rainbows. I think that after the rain blows over, the stray dogs will I trust, dry out, and one former stray dog at least will get off the couch, stretch and go outside to great the proper arrival of summer. It's called hurricane season but there will now be a pause while we enjoy some swimming and blue skies and boring uninterrupted tropical living. Until next time when we will re-evaluate.