Targeted by the Tropics

what do i get for failing to watch the news for three days while enjoying my holiday weekend? i get to wake up at the butt crack of dawn this morning to find that i will be feeling the effects of another tropical storm this afternoon. yuck. but t.s. cindy doesn't really bother me. it looks like it's going to pretty much make a direct hit on new orleans (maybe all the rain will wash some of the filth from the streets - wait, no. being below sea level, the filth will just float around in the flood). so, mobile is on the bad side of the storm, which means we'll get 6" of rain and a little wind, but pensacola will most likely be spared all but a little rain.

as i was making my way home from dauphin island around lunchtime (just a half day of work today), i passed vans from all three of the mobile news stations heading for the island to provide us with storm coverage. what's funny is that it wasn't even raining. it still isn't - just cloudy, which is holding the temp to the relatively mild mid-80's, but the humidity is killer.

anyway, like i said, i'm not worried about cindy. it's just going to rain a lot. what worries me is t.s. dennis. with my luck, and the target on my back that says, "hey, you! tropical system! nah-nah-nah, bet you can't get me!", dennis will probably become a major hurricane on its way into the gulf of mexico, head north, and hit one of two places - 1) the mobile/pensacola area or 2) port st. joe/apalachicola. why? because dennis hitting either of these places will totally screw up my weekend. gretchen and i are heading over to port st. joe (again) this weekend to do some sampling, and a big ass hurricane is just what we don't need. *sigh* i really thought that after ivan, the tropics would give us a break this season - and it's so early...

i'm going to say the same thing about dennis that i said about ivan - maybe it will go hit texas. sorry to wish that on the texans, but i'm certainly not going to wish dennis on florida for a couple of reasons - 1) if it hits the panhandle, it's probably going to affect me and 2) they had enough tropical activity last year to last them decades. and of course i don't want a huge hurricane hitting louisiana/mississippi/alabama because that would also put a big fat kink in my plans. but if dennis does head my way, i'm going to decide that it's time to go and see my nephew... in tennessee.