Aftermath

Tropical Storm Fay has passed by for the most part. That doesn't mean we haven't had a few residual showers today. DH and I got chased off the beach again today by a shower (fortunately we didn't get totally soaked this time). I stuck to the treadmill rather than risk the street or the beach for my walk today because every time I started to venture out, there was either a storm cloud looming or the heat and humidity were so oppressive I couldn't breathe.

Fay is the sixth named storm of the season. I can barely remember the first five because they didn't come near here. One was a hurricane that hit Texas a couple of weeks ago..... Naturally, the TV and newspapers do not follow up on the aftermath of storms. I am sure some of the people in Texas are still digging out, but you will never see that in the news.

The news media seems to be dominated by people with serious attention deficit syndrome. They can't seem to sustain interest in anything in particular. They give you the "high spots" during a crisis, but don't tell you a thing about the aftermath. I'll bet most people in this country would tell you that the damage caused by Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans has been pretty much repaired. I have not visited NO since 2005, but there are buildings here in Daytona Beach that have not been repaired since the 2004 hurricane season, so I'm pretty sure parts of NO are still in pretty bad shape.

This most recent storm was "only" a tropical storm. That meant it was not sexy enough to attract the Weather Channel. Steve Cantore wasn't down here standing on Daytona Beach, because there wasn't enough wind or driving rain to make for good pictures. That does not mean it wasn't a bad storm from which it will take people in many parts of Florida months or even years to recover.

Those of us who did not suffered damage, should now all bow our heads and thank the Dear Lord for our blessings.

We'd best not be too complaisant, however. Have you looked at the map of the tropics? There's a veritable parade of systems gliding across the Atlantic Ocean from the west coast of Africa. Hurricane season ain't over until December 1. That's a long way away.

A hell of a long way.