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FLORIDA HURRICANE PREPARATION

You all should be aware of hurricane preparations, but in case you need
a refresher course: We're about to enter the peak of the hurricane
season.

Any minute now, you're going to turn on the TV and see a weather person
pointing to some radar blob out in the Atlantic Ocean and making two
basic meteorological points.

(1) There is no need to panic.
(2) We could all be killed.

Yes, hurricane season is an exciting time to be in Florida. If you're
new to the area, you're probably wondering what you need to do to
prepare for the possibility that we'll get hit by "the big one."

Based on our insurance industry experiences, we recommend that you
follow this simple three-step hurricane preparedness plan:

STEP 1: Buy enough food and bottled water to last your family for at
least three days.

STEP 2: Put these supplies into your car.

STEP 3: Drive to Nebraska and remain there until Halloween.

Unfortunately, statistics show that most people will not follow this
sensible plan. Most people will foolishly stay here in Florida. We'll
start with one of the most important hurricane preparedness items:

HOMEOWNERS' INSURANCE: If you own a home, you must have hurricane
insurance. Fortunately, this insurance is cheap and easy to get, as long as
your home meets two basic requirements:

(1) It is reasonably well-built, and

(2) It is located in Wisconsin

Unfortunately, if your home is located in Florida, or any other area
that might actually be hit by a hurricane, most insurance companies would
prefer not to sell you hurricane insurance, because then they might be
required to pay YOU money, and that is certainly not why they got into
the insurance business in the first place. So you'll have to scrounge
around for an insurance company, which will charge you an annual premium
roughly equal to the replacement value of your house. At any moment,
this company can drop you like used dental floss.

SHUTTERS:

Your house should have hurricane shutters on all the windows, all the
doors. There are several types of shutters, with advantages and
disadvantages:

Plywood shutters: The advantage is that, because you make them
yourself, they're cheap.

Sheet-metal shutters: The advantage is that these work well, once you
get them all up. The disadvantage is that once you get them all up, your
hands will be useless bleeding stumps, and it will be December.

Roll-down shutters: The advantages are that they're very easy to use,
and will definitely protect your house. The disadvantage is that you
will have to sell your house to pay for them.

Hurricane-proof windows: These are the newest wrinkle in hurricane
protection: They look like ordinary windows, but they can withstand
hurricane winds! You can be sure of this, because the salesman says so. He
lives in Nebraska.

Hurricane Proofing your property:

As the hurricane approaches, check your yard for movable objects like
barbecue grills, planters, patio furniture, visiting relatives, etc...
you should, as a precaution, throw these items into your swimming pool
(if you don't have a swimming pool, you should have one built
immediately). Otherwise, the hurricane winds will turn these objects into deadly
missiles.

EVACUATION ROUTE:

If you live in a low-lying area, you should have an evacuation route
planned out. (To determine whether you live in a low-lying area, look at
your driver's license; if it says "Florida," you live in a low-lying
area.) The purpose of having an evacuation route is to avoid being
trapped in your home when a major storm hits. Instead, you will be trapped in
a gigantic traffic jam several miles from your home, along with two
hundred thousand other evacuees. So, as a bonus, you will not be lonely.

HURRICANE SUPPLIES:

If you don't evacuate, you will need a mess of supplies. Do not buy
them now! Florida tradition requires that you wait until the last possible
minute, then go to the supermarket and get into vicious fights with
strangers over who gets the last can of cat food. In addition to food and
water, you will need the following supplies:

23 flashlights. At least $167 worth of batteries that turnout, when the
power goes off, to be the wrong size for the flashlights.

Bleach. (No, I don't know what the bleach is for. NOBODY knows what the
bleach is for, but it's traditional, so GET some!)

A big knife that you can strap to your leg. (This will be useless in a
hurricane, but it looks cool.)

A large quantity of raw chicken, to placate the alligators. (Ask
anybody

who went through Andrew; after the hurricane, there WILL be irate
alligators.)

$35,000 in cash or diamonds so that, after the hurricane passes, you
can

buy a generator from a man with no discernible teeth.

Of course these are just basic precautions. As the hurricane draws
near,

it is vitally important that you keep abreast of the situation by
turning on your

television if you have a generator that's working to keep the TV going
and watching

TV reporters in rain slickers stand right next to the ocean and tell
you over and over how vitally important it is for everybody to stay away
from the ocean.

Good luck and remember: It's great living in Paradise

That fucking hurricane is going to drive me straight to the loony bin. It slowed down AGAIN. So, now they aren't even trying to guess as to when it might hit.

My son and his fiance are in the hospital (her baby is due next week, they make all the preggos who are less than a month away go to the hospital since the storm can cause labor to come on). Everyone else has battened down their collective hatches and gotten the supplies in.

Now it's just a waiting game.

On a completely different note, I read on Neil Gaiman's blog (http://www.neilgaiman.com/journal/journal.asp) that Dave Sim, the twisted genius behind the Cerebus comic epic (http://www.night-flight.com/sim/cerebus.html) would send a free, signed issue of his Sandman/Cerebus issue to anyone who wrote him a letter and mailed it to him asking for one.

Well, my husband is a fan of both Neil Gaiman and Cerebus, so I wrote a letter and sent it off to the address listed in Neil's blog. (Which can be found here: http://www.neilgaiman.com/journal/2004/08/lewis-and-clarke-not-to-mention-snuff.asp
read the last question on the page)

So, I wrote a letter asking Mr. Sim to please send a signed comic to my husband. It came in the mail today, and my husband got the mail and stood looking at this envelope with a puzzled expression on his face for several moments before it dawned on him what I had done (he reads Neil's journal too). He couldn't believe it. Inside the envelope was the book and a very cool letter, both hand-signed. A nice little surprise for my sweetie.

Back to hurricane watching...which at this point is like watching grass grow. *sigh*

So far, I have spoken to my son, my daughter and my mother. I still need to speak to my sister and brother.

My son and his fiance will be spending the hurricane in the hospital. Their baby is due next week, and all pregnant women with less than a month are advised to go to the hospital because the extreme low pressure from the storms can bring on labor.

My daughter, her fiance and their new baby will be riding it out in their apartment with shutters/plywood on the windows. They are all stocked up and ready.

My mother and her husband are all battened down, plywooded up, and stocked up and ready also.

Still waiting to hear from the other two.

Decided not the go to Weird Al tonight as I will be too worried to enjoy myself, instead I will be sitting checking the weather channel. It's so hard being over 900 miles away.

*sigh*