Weathering through a storm

This past week the East Coast was on "Hurricane Earl Watch."  Earl was building up force in the islands, and of course everyone freaked out that it was going to hit the Eastern seaboard.

I just don't understand why everyone had to build up to this state of panic before we even knew details or what path the storm will take.  I'm not trying to write off hurricanes-everyone knows how devastating Katrina was, and Long Island had a whopper of a hurricane with Gloria when I was a kid. We had no power for a week, trees in the driveway, the works-so I know how hard it can be to go through a storm like that.

Yes, everyone should be prepared in case of disaster. But... I saw people leaving Home Depot the other day with huge jugs of water and supplies. And this was when the weather service said it *might* hit Cape Cod or Montauk, NY.  Now, for those of you not in the know-I live nowhere near Cape Cod or Montauk.  It didn't matter to the local news, oh no. All that mattered to them was projected path of the hurricane, and the fact that it might graze the very tip of the CT coast. So therefore, it was breaking news.

So yes-people with cottages on the shore should have grabbed supplies, know evacuation plans, etc. But people in my area, in the middle of the state, shouldn't have panicked.

I know I annoyed a bunch of people last week with my attitude about the storm, but I don't really care. I am not an alarmist. I don't like worrying about something that might not happen. I mean, the Massachusetts government declared a state of emergency, for christ's sake! Isn't that a little premature? Should California declare a state of emergency now for all those earthquakes that "might" happen? And no offense to Cape Cod or its residents, but does the whole state of emergency  need to be declared for one tiny section?

So on Friday, the day Earl was supposed to do his damage, it was downgraded to a category 1. North Carolina was spared, thank goodness. My aunt and uncle just recently retired to North Carolina. Good luck to them on that.  But everyone had to backpedal because they had all predicted it would be "the worst." Hell, Connecticut even had a storm/operation center and we weren't supposed to get anything but rain. (nice waste of taxpayers money, eh?) And on Friday night, I won a $1.00 bet because I told my dad we wouldn't get much. And I was right. We got a bit of drizzle, and a friend and I laughed at all the people who had scrambled for bottled water and supplies. (In fact, I stopped by the grocery store on Saturday morning and the water aisle was overloaded with bottles of it)

So caution is good. I am a cautious person. But I don't want to work myself into a frenzied state over something that might not happen-which it didn't, in this case.  I just enjoyed the beautiful weather and had a nice weekend.