{"id":3987,"date":"2008-08-24T19:54:54","date_gmt":"2008-08-24T23:54:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/MassadAyoob\/?p=79"},"modified":"2008-08-24T19:54:54","modified_gmt":"2008-08-24T23:54:54","slug":"dodging-the-bullet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/MassadAyoob\/dodging-the-bullet\/","title":{"rendered":"DODGING THE BULLET"},"content":{"rendered":"

There\u2019s something yellow and vaguely familiar outside. <\/span>It\u2019s\u2026it\u2019s\u2026sunshine! <\/em>Yes, I remember now.<\/p>\n

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<\/span>Tropical Storm Fay didn\u2019t do much damage where I live. Bunch of branches down on my property, a tree down on my neighbor\u2019s, some flood damage elsewhere in the area. <\/span>The phrase I keep hearing is, \u201cWe dodged the bullet.\u201d<\/p>\n

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<\/span>That\u2019s technically incorrect. We <\/em>didn\u2019t dodge nothin\u2019. <\/em>Basically, we were awfully lucky and it just missed. <\/span>The worst part of the storm unexpectedly veered away from this particular county. <\/span>Others were not so lucky: Fay killed a dozen or so people in the Caribbean and seven to eleven in Florida, depending on which source you believe. <\/span>One city to the east of us saw 70,000 people without power and dealt with a lot of severe flooding, and another 12,000 people were without electricity in a community about equidistant to the west. <\/span>And, as Dan predicted in a letter to this blog, there were indeed alligators in the streets, at least in Melbourne, Florida according to reports.<\/p>\n

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<\/span>Folks are accusing the Governor and other officials of having overreacted in opening shelters, evacuating some communities, and all the rest. It\u2019s easy to call it overreaction, after it\u2019s over. However, the folks who needed <\/em>evacuation and shelter were damn glad it was there, and that help appeared Johnny-on-the-spot when they needed it.<\/p>\n

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<\/span>After something like this, you feel a little like the guy who got a terminal cancer diagnosis and feverishly put his affairs in order. Then the doctor calls and says, \u201cWe got your diagnosis wrong and you\u2019re fine.\u201d \u201cWhat,\u201d<\/em> shouts the patient, \u201cI went through all that for nothing!?!?<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n

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<\/span>It\u2019s something on which we need to maintain perspective. I see it as having an excellent drill to prepare for the next such crisis that does hit full force. <\/span>At my place, the power only went out briefly and intermittently. Didn\u2019t mean a generator ain\u2019t worth its price for peace of mind. I didn\u2019t get a flat this week, either, but it doesn\u2019t mean I\u2019m gonna throw the spare tires and the jacks out of the vehicles. <\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

<\/span>Today, we just relaxed and looked at the bright side. It\u2019s helped the drought conditions. The waters have receded quickly here. Last night, on the way to the Policeman\u2019s Ball in the last of the driving rain (yes, policemen do have balls), we noticed that the water was up to Smokey Bear\u2019s knees, on the fire danger sign, and look how low it is already. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There\u2019s something yellow and vaguely familiar outside. It\u2019s\u2026it\u2019s\u2026sunshine! Yes, I remember now. Tropical Storm Fay didn\u2019t do much damage where I live. Bunch of branches down on my property, a tree down on my neighbor\u2019s, some flood damage elsewhere in the area. The phrase I keep hearing is, \u201cWe dodged the bullet.\u201d That\u2019s technically incorrect. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":6428,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-3987","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-preparedness"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/MassadAyoob\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3987","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/MassadAyoob\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/MassadAyoob\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/MassadAyoob\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/MassadAyoob\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3987"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/MassadAyoob\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3987\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/MassadAyoob\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6428"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/MassadAyoob\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3987"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/MassadAyoob\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3987"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/MassadAyoob\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3987"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}