I didn’t feel too badly that my second day of my Monday night course was cancelled.  I could have gone to it, I think.  We were lucky that our part of Miami/Dade County was spared the rain and I could have gone.  We could have gone to our Tuesday Rehab for they were open, but we were told to stay off the streets.  Our lights stayed on but we heard that many thousands of people were cut off from their electricity sources.  We were lucky there and were snug, despite some rain getting in under our front door. 

Most of yesterday evening and all of today (Tuesday) was spent in reading and watching the same obsessive reportage of how this storm (sometimes a Tropical thing and sometimes a Hurricane) was seemingly stymied in the straights between the Keys and the southern tip of Florida.  It seems that such a subject is fascinating not only to those who had television service but also to some benighted souls who found they must get in their cars and travel SEAwater covered roads just to see what could be seen.  Such foolhardy behavior like the “must go down to the sea again” types to either hold on to something to experience the wind or get in the water to ride a surfboard is typical in times like this.  It seems that the lessons learned from Katrina could not be applied to Rita.

What is significant is that Florida, long derided for its elevation of G. Bush into the Presidency, learned some lessons and over prepared for this event.  Despite the foolish behavior of individuals who stayed behind when their homes would be demolished under them, most left and in good time.

We were persuaded that the storm would pass to the south of us and despite a day filled with dark clouds there was little rain in our particular niche in a flood zone in South Florida.  Funny thing, though, we are on the border of Broward County and the towns there seemed to be without power and were flooded quite badly.  If you happened to be closer to bottom of Florida where flooding and the effects of wind and rain were felt the most you experienced the wrath of this storm.  Like I have repeatedly said, we were lucky.

There is no predicting when WE will one day be in the headlines telling of our bad luck to be where THE hurricane of the century hits.  Like most people, we hold on to the thought that it won’t happen to us and we’ll tough it out.  Of course, if all the predictions tell us we will be the object of some future storm’s landfall, it would be nice to have enough time AND a place of refuge to go to.  We were lucky this time but you sort of feel naked and vulnerable when dealing with Mother Nature’s children.