Africa is firing tropical storms at us again. Gustav is on it’s way and Hannah’s right behind him and there are two others just emerging. Those of us in the SE USA are nervous as all holy hell. I can’t imagine how those poor folks in New Orleans are doing right about now.
Then you factor in the vulnerabilities of the ports and the oil refineries and it’s just a worrisome picture.
I think I’ll get gas on the way home tonight just in case it hits the drilling platforms and the price goes up again.
Used to think I’d like to live in Florida but now I’m not sure I would. Batten down the hatches again Lambchop and others!
The price has already shot up 5¢ a litre here just on speculation of Gustav (that, and the fact that it’s Labour Day Weekend).
I don’t understand the attraction of living in hot, humid places, but I don’t wish harm to anyone, either. Hope everyone has stocked up and battened down the hatches.
djm
They won’t let us move to Canada.
When I saw this post was from Dale, I expected to see that storm talk was now verboten.
Why? 
It has the same sonorous, attention-on-deck quality. Look:
NOW HEAR THIS – NOW HEAR THIS:
BUYING AND SELLING BASED ON BOARD CONTACTS
POLICY ON COMMERCIAL POSTS
MENTAL HEALTH AND MEDICAL POSTS
TROPICAL STORMS AND HURRICANES
THAT IS ALL.
..
I can totally see that.
There! Someone else agrees with me.
djm
Just returned from Disney World in Orlando, Florida.
Flew in the day after Fay left and flew out the day Gustav was arriving. The pilot told us we had a 10 minute window to take off or we would be sitting a very long time. We got off the ground just as high winds and heavy rain hit.
Had sunny weather all week while we were there with temps in the high 90s and very high humidity. Kinda like having an all day sauna!
Being from California the weather in Florida is quite severe. To live where you are threatened by severe weather takes a lot of guts. Just watching the aftermath of these storms is enough to keep me from ever living there for sure.
We lived in Kansas City for a year once and the main topic every day was the weather. I used to put my hand on the glass window to see what the day would be like. It was either hot and humid or freezing cold. I think we had about a week of Spring that year. Way harsh!
Florida is quite beautiful and tropical and we really enjoyed our stay there.
By the way, before you ask…it is always sunny in Cali and we never have any earthquakes! 
Story, I believe true.
It was determined that people in the south died in tornadoes
at higher rates than folks did in the midwest.
But the tornadoes in the midwest were as frequent
and as bad.
Researchers interviewed folks in both places about
their attitudes toward tornadoes.
The people in the South said stuff like, ‘Well,
when your number’s up, it’s up,’ and ‘If it’s gonna
get you, it’s gonna get you.’ They tended to be
fatalists. When the tornado came they sat
in the living room and waited to see what Fate
had in store for them.
People in mid-West, not Fatalistic, hid in the cellar.
People in the Midwest usually have a cellar to hide in, save for the folks living in a doublewide,
which I imagine living in a doublewide happens a bit more often down south?
My daughter and her husband have a trailer in a co-op at a lake (no permanent structures allowed for tax purposes) in southern Illinois. Its mostly Chicago and Saint Louis folks in the co-op.
When really bad weather hits someone always comes around and warns people.
She tells me the choice of safe places one goes to is usually tempered between how much time it takes to get there
and what kind of a party one can anticipate happening once everybody shows up.
There are not many places in the South where you can have cellars.
They tend to turn into indoor swimming pools. 
–James
It was rough enough worrying about my wife and her family while living down there during hurricane season, now that I’m seperated from her (and them), living 1,500 miles away, I find the worry almost unbearable. 
Joseph, I’ve never had to live through the type of stress that you are experiencing right now. I would never attempt to marginalize the extent of what you’re going through by saying I know how you feel.
Hopefully the power lines will be repaired and cell phone support reinstated
so you can be reassured as soon as possible that your wife and family are still safe and healthy.
..
Thank you so very much!
I will be on the road gigging for the next month, keeping tabs on the storms and my former family/in laws is going to be pretty tough. Needless to say, I’ll be keeping an eye on this thread as often as I can.
..
Great Mother of Merlin! No wonder we are having such ‘lovely’ weather up here in the midwest today. 
May safety prevail.