Opus 2017-289: On the Street: A Local Report on Harvey

I am well on my way to surviving my first hurricane.  To be honest, I have only been on the fringes but just like someone who works as an aide in a nursery school will tell people she is a teacher, a Democrat Senator will claim to be a war hero and Islam is a religion of peace, I am a hurricane survivor.  At least so far.

We are in a new house.  I don’t know the sounds.  I don’t know what to expect.  So far all seems to be going well.  My wife is hearing all kinds of noises but at least they don’t require me to get my bat and check the house for intruders.  I heard one unexpected and unexplained noise once.  It must be because I am losing my hearing.  We have several sky lights through the house and a metal roof.  I find that the sound of rain is pleasant, even after several days. 

What is it like being in a hurricane watch?  Mainly it is the unknown.  Will that next gust of wind keep building and become a tornado?  Will the roof start leaking?  Will the hurricane change direction and target my house?  Will we run out of beer?  Since we didn’t have any to start with that raises the interesting question of can you run out of something you don’t use?

There is also the matter of rational judgement.  How many cases of water should we have?  I filled up our propane tank but should I rush out and buy another?  I look at the worst case scenario and try to ask what can I do and what can I not do.  If a tornado hits the house having an extra gallon of milk won’t make much difference and since we don’t use milk much we would not need it anyway.  How many batteries do you need to make it few a few days of stores being closed? 

Keep in mind that the media love to speculate on how big the disaster is going to be.  It keeps people listening to their station.  Who would stay listening to someone who says, “It will rain hard but most of you are going to be just fine.  Don’t do anything stupid and stupid will do nothing to you.”  That does not increase ratings as much as, “The end is near and only our sage advice can save your life!”  I would never make it as a weather celebrity.  My report would be, “Expect rain and wind.  Use your brain.” 

As I write I understand Harvey is dumping on Houston.  If I were there I might worry.  My heart goes out to those people.  We have friends there and I think they are smart enough to come in out of the rain.

Texas.  What a life.  Last week they rebooted my heart.  This week we had a hurricane.  This is truly the wild west.

homo unius libri