Coming in for a landing

This is it, the lull now before the storm. Things have settled down around here. People this far away from Rita's ground zero seem to be where they want to be, probably parked in front of CNN and the Weather Channel with snacks and drinks, soft or otherwise.

(I do have some very good friends who live in the direct path of Rita, in the Port Arthur area. I hope my 83 year old mentor, Elton, who is like Mr. Magoo and just about as helpless (or is that hapless?), has been taken to safety and is doing ok. Best to you, Elton, wherever you are - out of the nearby bogs and bar ditches, I hope!)

The roads, stores and gas stations are calm again. Except I did just see a woman push a basket in the store this evening with ten dozen eggs, and ten half gallons of orange juice among other staples. I said "wow." She smiled and said, "We have 75 evacuees." Wow.

Now, as dusk turns to dark, I'm reminded of watching another infamous landing this summer - Discovery. I stayed up most of two nights for that one. I don't have a TV, so it's not like I can see a bunch of juicy video. But I may cruise back and forth between a few websites just to get in on the media action.

I've got a magnum of cheap French wine (a dry white, properly chilled) for the occasion. If I were having a social gathering, I'm sure we'd have to toast this soon to be slippery slumber party with something even cooler, ice cold frozen margaRITAs, with sea salt, of course.

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