Yesterday brought our seasonal dry winds known as the Santa Annas and inevitable brushfires by night. Our news services are squeezing the story like an allready dried lemon peel into a force 5 hurricane of Pulitzer worthy journalism . People are evacuating in utter disbelief from homes built in canyons once frequented at best by jackrabbits and the Manson Gang, clogging the narrow roads with HUMMERS they can't drive in pajamas. At least I think they're pajamas, California dress being beyond casual. I haven't observed one BOB, the livestock evacuation volunteers can't understand why I didn't volunteer again and some teary eyed guy whos house actually burned down with his 2 Harleys and 100+ guitar collection announced "THIS IS OUR KATRINA." I have a very humorous email poking fun at us californians.If anyone out there better at past and cut posting can help put it in the campfire email me. <img src="/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" />

Gimme. I'll post it. PM sent for email address.

This should be good...

Every year... same stories.

Blizzards in the Northeast.
Hurricanes in the South.
Tornadoes in the Midwest.
Earthquakes and Wildfires in the West.

And the media always manages to act so surprised. <img src="/images/graemlins/shocked.gif" alt="" />

Oh and I forgot the occasional flooding and droughts.

I liked what one newscaster mentioned about how it's important to evacuate to safety and not worry about bringing your new plasma TV or DVD player with you. Duh.

FYI... If you've mailed it, I haven't received it yet.

Making whatever local emergency happends to be occuring sound like the end of the world is good for ratings. You should see our local tornado TV coverage here in Alabama. Weather anchors striping off their jackets and ties, looking around like they are trying to find a desk to dive under..and all because "radar" indicated a POSSIBLE tornado. These days you can just about count on preemptive TV coverage everytime a thunderstorm fires up.

Geez, back in Lubbock, we'd just go out on the porch. If it sounded like a freight train coming, you went to the basement, otherwise sit on the swing and eat a tomato or some watermelon with a little salt shaker handy and watch the storm. I don't need radar to tell me a tornado's coming. You'll know it when you see/hear the dang thing. Besides, that's what those sirens on them poles is for.

Basement? Lubbock? Hell no, it's the cellar. You been gone too long.

Well, Grandma said it wasn't a cellar because Grandad had finished it some and had a bed and a tv down there, and because he kept it too warm down there in the wintertime to keep produce in. They called the one at my uncle's place in Plainview a cellar because it stayed the right temperature to keep food in most of the year. You wouldn't want to spend the night in there unless you were adventurous.

You're right though. No one I know has a cellar up in Washington. It's either a basement or a crawlspace.