Yes, Please Help!

Posted by Kurt Maurer on Aug 31, 2005

This is America's big chance to hear Texans get really, really quiet. Our own day is coming, sooner or later (not to mention that many of us have already attended a major blow or two on the front row).

After a hurricane hits, the sky clears and the sun comes out... which brings temperatures up into the upper nineties, and humidity just goes beserk with all the moisture present everywhere -- and I mean EVERYWHERE. And this sweltering steam bath shall continue to be the case throughout a week-long (at least) haitus from any meaningful infrastructure, to wit: there will be no electricity (at all, even batteries die in a day or two), no phones, no water, no gas, no cars (no gasoline or passable roads), no groceries, and often, no sewer. There is no such thing as ice, either, so anything you do manage to scare up for drinking is enjoyed at 80 degrees or better. For at least a week.

When the first services show up at long last, things can get nasty fast since everybody's desperate. You oughta see the mayhem at the first couple ice trucks that hit town. You won't believe your own neighbors, or yourself. Not that everyone's nasty, but everyone IS mighty desperate by this time.

The authorities are far too busy with other things, and so many civic duties befall the ordinary residents. Things such as clearing debris to make the roads passable, clearing bloated dead animals away, etc., etc.

And then the cleanup begins, and you get to do it all yourself, since contractors are at a premium. Hey, you get to learn carpentry and home repair! You will also develop an intimate relationship with a chain saw. Oh, the fun just goes on and on... for MONTHS afterwards...

Been there, done that, and yeah, it makes a good case for living in snow country. Sure does.

Y'all be sure to open your hearts and wallets to your neighbors in the Deep South, y' hear? Me, I'm scrambling frantically to find some way of contributing some manpower to this thing, without merely getting in the way.

Cheers, Kurt

In Response to: Re: Raul's Mill Creek 16. by John Foster on Aug 31, 2005

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