After a long weekend (first one in who knows when) of not paying any attention to the tropics, your post surprised the hell out of me!

The way this hurricane season has gone, NOTHING should surprise me anymore.

Imagine Thanksgiving with shutters on the windows. Or Nochebuena.

For years we've contemplated moving to the Miami area. It's nice and warm and we have family there. Every year the pull has been stonger. Until this year. I'm thinking really damp cold winters and earthquakes are not so bad after all. Of course you have to do a lot of driving to get a decent cafe con leche...

I agree with Ziva on that one. I live in California and my dream has been to move to Miami. And folks here tell me am crazy to want to move there.

My cousin moved from California last year. He says that, despite all, and he's a "hurricane hunker-down veteran," having gotten his baptism of fire in our company last year, he's still better off as "there's no state income tax, traffic flows smoothly compared to California, no smog, not too many looney tree huggers, and earthquakes give you no warning."

Proposal: name this storm TD "Coño!," as in "Coño, basta ya!"

Ziva, though here in Chicago we don't know about earthquakes... I'd have to tell you, I'd rather go through hurricanes then to put up with the freezing cold.

Lo unico que faltaba. Esto si le puso la tapa al pomo. Is there an "Indoor Caja China" for Noche Buena?

TWAS THE NIGHT BEFORE THE HURRICANE

'Twas the night before the hurricane
When all through the state
Not a gas pump was pumping
Not a store open late

All the plywood was hung
On the windows with care
Knowing that a hurricane
Soon would be there

The children were ready
With flashlights in hand
While bands from the hurricane
Covered over the land

And mamma with her Mag-Lite
And I in my cap
Had just filled the bath tub
For flushing our crap

When out on the lawn
There arose such a clatter
I sprang from the closet
To see what was the matter

The trees on the fence
And the neighbor's roof torn
Gave the fear of us dying
In this terrible storm

With a little wind gust
So lively and quick
I remembered quite clearly
Our walls weren't brick

More rapid than eagles
Her courses they came
And she whistled, and wafted
And surged all the same

Off shingles! Off sidings!
Off rooftops! Off power!
Down trees! Down fences!
Down trailers! Down towers!

In the south of Florida
She continued to maul
Screaming Blow Away!
Blow Away! Blow Away All!

As wind ripped and tossed
The debris through the sky
I peeked out the shutters
At cars floating by

So go to the safe-room
My family did do
With a portable radio
And batteries too

And then, in a twinkling
I heard on the set
The end was not coming
For a few hours yet!

As I calmed down the kids
And was turning around
Through the window it came
With a huge crashing sound

A tree branch it was
All covered in soot
The wind blew it smack-dab
On top of my foot

A bundle of twigs
Now lay in a stack
And my living room looks
Like it was under attack

The wind - how it howled!
The storm - very scary!
Myself and the family
Were all too unwary

The dangers of hurricanes
Are serious, you know
They are taken for granted
As Charley did show

With the winds dying down
And the danger beneath
I noticed my tool shed
Was missing its sheath

So I grabbed my last tarp
And nailed it on down
Then I got in my car
And I headed to town

The traffic was awful
And stores had no ice
My five gallon cooler
Would have to suffice

Generators were scarce
Not one left in town
There were trees on the roads
And power lines down

FEMA was ready
With people to work
Electrical companies
Came in from New York

And in the midst of
This peculiar routine
Another storm emerged
Just out in the Ocean

I sprang to the car
And gave my family a whistle
Then away we all went
Like a Tomahawk missile

You could hear us exclaim
As we drove out of sight
"The hell with this place,
Vermont seems just right!"

That is one FABULOSO poem!!!
Who is the author?
Congratulations, whoever it might be.
Julio
P.S. For the record, I don't agree with its "conclusion," since I am planning to move to Florida within the next 5 years... I've been to Vermont, and I think it's a beautiful place, but I'm a Caribbean man --through and through-- and I wouldn't think of moving to Vermont any more than I would consider moving to the back side of the moon. Florida... the promised land!

The author is Yamy Choy, mas conocida en su casa, pero famosa Babalu Cheerleader...

That's a great poem, Yamy! May I pass it along? With your name on it of course. :)

YAMY,
Congratulations are in order. Good job!
As you you South Floridians already starting to shiver about the new potential disturbance... shame on you!
It's at least 5-6 days away, if not more. Please don't start to quake in your boots now... Remember, you still have plenty of time to put up your hurricane shutters... or your plywood planks. Show some backbone, please!
Stay the course!
Julio
P.S. If you head for Home Depot *today* there won't be any lines, or any sense of panic, and you will be able to find all the supplies you need. Buena suerte!
J.

I don't even want to see a Plywood in a picture, not candles, not batteries, not flashlights, and I don't want to think that I have to go to Home Depot again, and after watching a movie last night on Channel 4 "Category 7: The end of the World" it is pretty scary to think about it.

Ask the mystics to deflect the hurricane with a protective shield, maybe that'll work!

I always tell non-Floridians that we get threatened a lot more than we actually get hit. Of course, this year it's been about even, but normally the odds of any one location getting hit directly by a hurricane are pretty low.